Why Dragons like Gold
by Alura Nescire
Summary: The Gold Ranger travels to Earth after her home planet is destroyed by the United Alliance of Evil. She gets help from the Zeo Rangers, but this reopens unhealed wounds of the past as Tommy discovers just how much she knows about him. Eventual Tommy/OC
1. Chapter 1

Book 1- Why Dragons like Gold

By Alura Nescire

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do not own Power Rangers.

Chapter 1: Flight and fight

-four years ago-

"_Are you going somewhere, Alura?"_

_The Pyramid pilot turned her head to see her father watching her. She simply continued to pack her weapons. She couldn't delay._

"_Father, please don't use my name," she said, picking up her Gold Power Staff. "You know why."_

_Her Father handed her a weapon which she had dropped. _

"_I don't care if it puts me in danger," he said. "I want to call my daughter by her name." She momentarily stopped packing, but then started again, determined not to be distracted. "You know that I love you, don't you?"_

"_Yes Father, of course." _

"_So tell me where you're going."_

"…_Terra 16."_

_Her father thought for a moment. "Earth? Why?"_

_Alura picked up a lazar pistol then put it back down. "The United Alliance of Evil seems to be targeting that planet at the moment, and Rita Repulsa has chosen a likely candidate for the Dragon coin. I have to help him."_

_Her Father sighed. "You had the dream again."_

"_I have many dreams." She finally turned to face him. "But this one is for sure. The Earth will fall if this warrior becomes evil. The Power is too strong within him." Alura squinted, as if trying to remember something. "It's so strong I can't even sense what colour he is." She looked back at her Father, and then shook her head. "Still, regardless of colour, I have to help him." She looked down in shame. "I'm sorry Father."_

_He just nodded. "I think that your Mother would have done the same."_

_She brushed past him, going silently to the Pyramid, leaving him in the now empty weapons room._

* * *

><p>-present day 1996-<p>

The earth's desert reminded Alura of her home planet. She didn't have time to observe it however. She was under attack. After years of rivalry, Rita, Zedd, and Mondo had joined forces and united for one purpose; to steal the Gold Ranger power and destroy the troublesome Gold Ranger.

She was tossed around in the pyramid as Mondo's Quadra fighters attacked her from all sides, and they were closely followed by Serpenterra, Zedd's enormous Dragon ship. How many days had it been? 10? 20? Even more? She just couldn't manage to shake them. She put her helmet back on, tucking in her long brown hair and tinting the visor to its darkest. _I have to hide my craft_, she thought, _even if they catch me; the Pyramid must never be used for evil_. She maneuvered the Pyramid through a stone arch, momentarily scattering her enemies. She quickly activated the cloaking device, and the pyramid turned invisible. She quickly landed it silently between large outcrops of rocks as here enemies sped over her. _Good_, she thought, picking up her sword and re holstering it. _That'll buy me some time._ She climbed though the side hatch and exited the pyramid. She ran forward, co-coordinating herself with this unfamiliar environment. She stopped and hid behind a large boulder as she heard her enemies arguing up ahead.

"You must have let him escape…"

"No, you must have let him escape!"

Alura was both pleased and surprised. They had referred to her as a 'him'. She had managed to conceal so much of her identity over the years; they didn't even know what gender she was. They only knew that she was the gold ranger and that she had the most power of any ranger that they had ever seen. Her enemies continued to argue.

"This truce hasn't helped, Zeddy. We should end it!" screeched Rita in frustration.

"You heard my wife, Mondo. The truce is off!"

Alura heard Mondo gasp. "You… villains! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you! You can find the Gold Ranger on your own then. My superior technology is bound to find him first! Cogs, find the Gold Warrior."

Alura narrowed her eyes. She hated cogs. The stupid robots were ruthless and had attacked her many times before.

"Fine then," retorted Rita. "Tengus, find the Gold Ranger first!" Alura had fought Tengus before too, and she hated them just as much as cogs.

Alura took a deep breath and remained calm. This was probably the most danger that she had ever been in. She weighed up her options. She could fight, but it would drain a lot of her power. She cursed quietly to herself. She hated running from enemies, but she figured it was either that or die in this case. She would rather die another day.

All of a sudden a cog appeared next to her. She smashed its face with her fist, shattering most of its head, but not before her enemies heard the cog emit a high pitched noise. Knowing that her cover was blown, she bolted out from behind the rock and into the open.

"There he goes!" cried one of the Tengus, hot on her trail. The other minions began chasing her too, trying to trip their opponents all the while, each of them eager to please their masters. Alura didn't have to turn around to know that she was hopelessly outnumbered. She ran as fast as she could, kicking up dust and sand as she ran.

Suddenly, a ship landed in front of her, blocking any means of escape that she had planned. A large wolf like figure jumped out of it. It was Herox, the toughest bounty hunter in the galaxy.

"I've got you now, Gold Ranger!" he barked, drawing a dagger from his belt. "Not so tough now, are you?"

Alura was quite offended at this. She had always felt tough in her Ranger gear, even if the armour was the weakest ranger armour ever to be put to use. But, in her opinion, the black and gold went together nicely. Not that she could help what armor she wore, it wasn't exactly her choice. Her golden shoulder shield caught the sunlight as she blasted Herox to the desert floor with an energy ball, but by now she was totally surrounded. The Tengus and Cogs saw their chance and began to close in on her. She stood defiantly against them, moving her hands and feet into a fighting stance. If she was going down, then she was going down fighting.

They almost had Alura when the nearest of her enemies were knocked back by five brilliant flashes of light. There, between her and the enemy, were the Power Rangers. Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Pink. Earths valiant had hoped not to drag them into this, but in her fatigued state she was grateful for the help.

"You will not harm a friend of the Power Rangers!" the Red Ranger shouted, raising his fist angrily. He glanced sideways at the new Ranger "You alright?"

Alura just nodded, careful not to speak. She didn't want to reveal herself, even though that Red Ranger's voice sounded familiar to her…

"You will pay for this attack!" shouted the Green Ranger.

"You will pay for interrupting this attack, Rangers!" screeched Rita. "We had it planned out perfectly!"

"Sorry Rita," said the Red Ranger, drawing his weapon. "We don't run to your schedule."

The Rangers ran forward, pushing the enemies further away from her. The power rangers fought with impressive skill; however Alura did not have time to observe them. She had her hands full with Herox, who had stood back up and was advancing towards her with the dagger.

She grabbed his arm as it came down, the blade stopping only inches from her helmet. She grabbed her sword and slashed him across the chest, sparks flying as metal met metal. This knocked him backwards, but he soon came at her again. She fought against him, lashing out with her sword, striking him, but he was so big that it didn't seem to affect him much at all. She eventually managed to get the upper hand, throwing him to the ground and kicking his dagger away. She saw the other Rangers fighting against too many enemies for them to handle, and she knew that they couldn't go on like this for much longer.

She shot an energy bolt at a cog that the Red Ranger was struggling with. Its robotic head smashed as it hit the ground. The Red Ranger looked up to see where the bolt had come from, and then realized that it came from the mystery Ranger.

"Thanks." He said. The gold Ranger simply nodded. _Regroup. _The word came to the red rangers mind.

"Regroup?" He said out loud. The Gold Ranger just nodded once again, and the Red Ranger was smart enough to recognize telepathy when it was used. The word had come from the mystery Ranger. "Guys, regroup!"

The others came over to them, looking a bit worse for wear. Before they could do anything, the Gold Ranger secured a forcefield around the Zeo Rangers, stopping anything from getting to them.

"What the-?" exclaimed the Blue Ranger. "Is he trapping us?"

"I don't think so," said the Red Ranger. "I think he has a plan."

Alura began to glow a solid gold colour, gradually getting brighter and brighter as she built up more energy. The cogs and Tengus were wary of this, and were smart enough to stay back. Herox, however, had different ideas.

"Look out!" exclaimed the Pink Ranger as Herox grabbed the knife and ran towards the Gold Ranger. _No, _thought Alura, _I haven't charged enough power…_ Just as Herox reached her with the dagger outstretched, she released the power she was storing. It flowed out of her like the shock wave to an explosion, and picked him up, as well as the cogs, the Tengus, Rita, Zedd and Mondo. They were picked up in a mass of energy and dust, screaming the whole time as they were deposited miles away from the six rangers.

The rangers covered their eyes as the wave passed over them, but they were protected from it by the forcefield. It kicked up so much dust that the rangers couldn't see the gold ranger outside. Finally the dust subsided and they could see the gold ranger once more. The Ranger brought down the forcefield around them, with her back to them.

"Wow," said the yellow ranger. "That was incredible, how did you do that?" The ranger went to speak, but couldn't. The Ranger tried to walk towards them as her breathing became staggered, and she collapsed to her knees.

"Guys, he's hurt!" yelled the Green Ranger as they all ran to her. A pool of blood quickly built up around her, soaking into the desert sand. _Damnit, _she thought, clutching her wound. _I wasn't quick enough…_ As the others supported her as she collapsed completely. Nearby was Herox's knife handle, but the blade itself was nowhere to be seen.

"Get him to the command center!" shouted the Red Ranger. "Quickly!"

As Alura closed her eyes, she saw a flash of light and felt herself being teleported… the fatigue swept in … then nothing.

* * *

><p>AN: Hi everyone! This is my very first fanfiction, so please leave a review if you enjoyed it :) I'm really excited to join the fanfic community, and I have more chapters written if you guys want more. Just let me know!

Regards, Alura (obviously, not my real name, but I thought it sounded cool :P)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much to those who have responded to my first chapter! I love those warm fuzzy feelings that you get when someone reviews my story. And HUGE PLANET SIZED THANK YOU to **Newbie11**, you have given me an idea to incorperate Trey into the story, but it will come later on.

Oh, and just a heads up people, there will be a bit of a romance between Alura and Tommy, but it'll probably come later when they have some sort of epic battle to deal with :)

And there will be swearing and violence scattered throughout the story... meh, I think we're all mature enough to deal with that.

And now on with the story!

* * *

><p>-flashback-<p>

"_Alura," The Gold Ranger stopped and turned to face her Father._

"_It's true, isn't it?" she turned from the hatch of the pyramid. "About the Power."_

"… _I don't know what you mean."_

"_Don't lie to me! I know that I caused Mothers death! I killed her and inherited her power. And that's the way that it will be from now on. It would be so easy for anyone to kill me and take the power.'_

"_Alura, that power is keeping you alive!" Her Father lowered his gaze. "It wasn't anyone's fault that she died. And just because your powers are your life force, that doesn't make you weak. You have a good soul, so you should use your soul and powers for good. You will find a way to work with it. You're the most determined person I know."_

"_I hope the Dragon Ranger is too…" she climbed through the hatch. "Hopefully, I'll be back soon..."_

_-end flashback-_

They lay the Gold Ranger on a bed in the first aid room. The blade was in the mystery Rangers left side. The Red ranger closed his fingers around it, his gloved fingers being covered in blood as he did so, as if about to pull it out. Suddenly a figure dived on him.

"Don't Tommy!" said the figure, re adjusting his glasses. "The knife is serrated! You'll do more damage to him if you pull it out like that."

"But Billy, the wound won't heal until we get this blade out! He could die!" Said Tommy the Red Ranger.

"I'll see if I can get it out. Alpha, give me a hand." A robot came over with various medical instruments. "You guys should go and talk to Zordon. He's dug up some pretty interesting information on this guy."

The Rangers didn't want to leave the Gold Ranger alone, but they knew that they must talk to Zordon. They left the Room, Tommy last. "Hurry, Billy."

The other Rangers had already taken off their helmets when Tommy had entered the room. He took his off also. "Alright Zordon," said Tommy, "What information can you give us on this guy?" The Rangers looked up as a floating head in a power tube appeared.

"I do not have information on the Gold Ranger himself," said Zordon."However, I do have information on his powers."

The rangers looked at each other, confused.

"Why would we need to know about his powers, Zordon?" asked the Yellow Ranger.

"When the gold ranger first appeared a few weeks ago, and helped you defeat Wolfbane, I contacted various connections to get information on him to see if he was friend or foe. I found out that this Ranger is from the planet Aerovillia. It was thought that the gold powers were lost decades ago, as there has been no record of a gold ranger for some time now. It was believed that these powers had all been used a long time ago. Therefore, in order for him to exist with this huge amount of power, I believe that this ranger might have a secondary source of power as well as the gold powers too balance them."

"He has a secondary power source as well as Ranger Powers? Is that even possible, Zordon?" asked the Blue Ranger.

"It is possible, Rocky," said Zordon. "However, now that this Ranger is on a planet that is foreign to him I fear that both of these power sources may become unstable due to a sudden change in environment, thus making him more vulnerable in battles like the one you just fought."

There was a crash from the first aid room. The rangers ran in to see Alpha be tossed from one end of the room to the other. Billy was trying to restrain the Gold Ranger as she had woken up and was trying to get away.

"Stay still!" yelled Billy. "Guys, hold him down!" Tommy and Rocky held the Ranger down on the bed as the other rangers helped Alpha up. "You have to stop moving, you're going to do more damage to yourself!" The Gold Ranger stopped moving, obviously reluctantly, but the pain seemed too strong to fight against.

"What did you do, Billy?" asked Tommy.

"I tried to get the knife out, and he woke up. I told him that he was in the command center, and he panicked."

_I can't stay here. _The thought came to Tommy.

"Why do you speak to us telepathically?" Tommy asked the Gold Ranger.

_To keep you all safe._

"What do you mean, Tommy? I can't hear anything." said Billy.

"Me neither" said the Blue Ranger.

"Really?" Tommy was confused, but before he could question further, Zordon interrupted him.

"The Gold ranger is subject to great power, therefore is a very secretive being," said Zordon. "This Ranger obviously reveals minimal information about himself in order to keep him and others safe. Perhaps he is only communicating with one of you in order to minimize spread of information."

In all of Zordons ramblings, the Gold ranger had blacked out again. Billy sprung into action. Undoing the side clasps on the Gold Rangers helmet, he put an oxygen mask over the mystery warrior's face, but he still kept the helmet low enough so that none of them could see the face.

"I can't get the knife out safely," stated Billy, "The serrated edge makes it too difficult to get out without causing further damage. I could only pull it out a little way. It's going to have to be surgically removed."

"At a hospital?" asked the Green Ranger. "It's far too risky. We can't take him into the city. Zedd or Mondo would be likely to track his signal."

"I know it's risky," said Billy. "But we don't have a choice. It's not like we can bring anyone here."

The Rangers looked at each other. Billy was right, as usual.

"One of you has to take him while you're morphed. I would go, but I can't be seen with a Ranger, people would start asking questions."

"I'll go," said Tommy. "You shouldn't need me for a while, Rita and Zedd are probably still in the desert arguing with Mondo."

"Let me go first, Tommy," said Rocky. "I'll find a surgeon that can operate immediately so that you can just teleport straight there without having to wait around."

Tommy nodded. "Alright, Rocky."

"Back to action!" Rocky put his helmet back on and teleported out of the command centre. As he teleported out the Gold ranger stirred, the oxygen helping to resuscitate her. The others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, how are you holding up, man?" asked Tommy.

Alura was dizzy and still in an enormous amount of pain, but she took off the oxygen mask, did up her helmet and tried to sit up anyway.

Tommy held her down by her shouldershield. "Don't worry, you'll be fine soon. Rocky, the Blue ranger and I are going to take you to hospital."

_You're crazy! Let me go! You're in danger with me around!_

"Why are we in danger?" Tommy shouted at the Gold Ranger.

The Gold Ranger stopped struggling and weakly put a hand on his head, as if trying to communicate with him clearer. _I can't tell you… If I do… I might lose my powers…_

Rocky teleported in just as Alura passed out again.

"Tommy! I found someone!" Rocky supported the Gold Ranger as the Red ranger put his helmet back on.

They teleported out, without another word to the other rangers. Time was of the essence.

As soon as they teleported they arrived at the hospital and Tommy and Rocky lay the Gold Ranger down on an operating table. A surgeon put on a pair of latex gloves.

"Please hurry," said Tommy. "He keeps going in and out of consciousness."

"She's very strong willed, your friend. I hope she makes it." The surgeon picked up a scalpel.

He began to operate.


	3. Chapter 3: Recovery and Discovery

Chapter 3: Recovery and Discovery

A/N: Argh, I just wrote this huge long authors note, and then it didnt save properly :/ RAGE! Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed etc. It keeps me motivated to write more :) You are all lovely people, why didnt I start writing fanfiction years ago? If I'd known that you lovely people were here, I would have! :P

Okay, I'm going to be uploading multiple chapters today. Two reasons. One, I am home looking after my sick dog. I mean, I'm sure Digger will be fine, but, y'know, I'm hear just in case. Therfore, while 'm at home, I'm doing this. Two, I go back to school next week, meaning that I wont have a lot of time to update during the school term. Sorry, but school HAS to come first. I should be doing holiday homework right now, but instead, I'm updating for you fine people :) And, thats fine by me, just not my teachers...

So, even though I may not get to update as often during the school term, that doesnt mean that I dont want reviews. So, everyone, please review if you like it. Heck, review even if you didnt like it! I'm open to constructive criticisms, etc. :)

Oh... did I ever say that I was replacing Jason just because he's not the Gold Ranger? ... I dont think I did :P

And, while we were watching Zeo, we all wanted Billy to be the Gold Ranger, didnt we? Well, who knows? These two originals might be coming back... "Back to Action!" ... anything can happen in this story...

So, anyways, I'll try to update when I can. I have ten chapters written so far, but I'm not sure if I'll upload them all today. We'll see how it goes. And how much looking after Digger needs.

Power Protect my Power Pals!

Alura xx

* * *

><p>It had been an hour since Rocky and Tommy had left with the Gold Ranger, and the others were beginning to get anxious. Billy paced around the first aid room while the others were gathered in the command centers main room, the power chamber. They had powered sown, conserving their energy and resting from the fight. Adam and Rocky were trying to write a battle report, but they found themselves extremely distracted. The Pink Ranger was the first to break the silence.<p>

"They should have been back by now!" she exclaimed. "Do you think something has gone wrong, Zordon?"

"I do not know, Kat," said Zordon. "Any matter of things could have happened. All we can do right now is hope for the best."

The green ranger shook his head. "I shouldn't have been so negative," he said. "I should have supported Tommy and Rocky in their decision. After all, they have both been Red Rangers at some stage."

The yellow ranger put her hand on the green rangers shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Adam. We all felt uncomfortable with their decision. It's okay."

In the other room, Billy and Alpha were feeling just as uncertain.

"I could have removed the knife, Alpha. I was just freaking out a bit at the amount of power that guy had. I mean, when he threw you across the room, even in such a weakened state-"

"You did the right thing, Billy. Besides, he didn't damage any of my circuits, and surgery is something that is best left to professional hands," said the little robot, trying to reassure his friend.

"But what if it was left too late…?"

There was a sudden flash of red and blue light as Tommy and Rocky teleported back to the command center and with them was… the Gold Ranger. Billy ran back into the power chamber as the others whooped with joy. The Gold ranger was heavily supporting his weight on Rocky and Tommy, he didn't appear to have the strength to stand up by himself. They led him back to the bed, and the gold ranger sat on it, not wanting to lie down in the presence of strangers. He nursed his side carefully.

"So," said the Green ranger "What happened?"

"The surgeon just operated and stitched her up," said Tommy. "It was apparently easy to operate on. The blade didn't pierce any of her organs."

"You need to work on your grammar, Tommy," said Tanya, the yellow ranger crossing her arms in a joking manner. "You just said 'her' twice."

"That's what I meant," said Tommy. "She's a girl."

"What?" Tanya raised her eyebrows out of surprise and amusement.

"How… do you know?" said the Gold ranger. Her voice sounded like that of a male, just like it had when she had helped them against certain other enemies before.

"The shape of your hips," Billy concluded. "You're like the first yellow ranger, Trini. She had the armour of a boy but she was a girl."

"Alright… you win." Her voice immediately changed to a feminine tone, changing her accent too. Kat could have sworn that she sounded Australian. The Gold Ranger weakly pointed a small black wire which she had built discreetly into the neck of her ranger armour. "I've been using a translation wire. Even my enemies don't know what gender I am. You know more than they do."

"But if you've spoken to us before, why did you speak telepathically to Tommy now?" asked Billy.

"In… my weakened state… I was sure that the translation wire wouldn't work. I didn't want anyone to hear my real voice…"

She flinched slightly as a pain rocketed out from her side. "Rangers…" she said. "I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I can't stay here. Rita, Zedd and Mondo will go to great lengths to find out any information on me. And now that you know things about, me, your all in danger."

"But what if we can help you?" said the pink ranger.

"Thanks, but I don't need your help. I am here to help you, not the other way around. Helping rangers is what I do." She stood shakily but would have fallen completely if Billy hadn't caught her.

"I am afraid that we can't let you go in this state," said Zordon. "You must stay at the command center until you are healed."

Billy sat Alura down on the bed again. She obviously wasn't happy about it, but she knew that they wouldn't let her leave without good reason.

"According to our tracking devices, you were running from Zedd and Mondo for almost a month. You're fatigued! You must rest."

"Can I… ask you all some questions first? Sorry, but now that I am marooned on your planet, I need to ask you all about how things work here."

Tommy looked at the others, and then nodded. "Go ahead."

"I know that I've helped you fight before, but… who are you? Are you human?"

"This is Billy," Tommy gestured to the non-ranger. "Green ranger is Adam, Blue ranger is Rocky, Yellow is Tanya, and the Pink ranger is Kat. We're all human. That's Alpha," he gestured to the robot. "And our mentor, Zordon of Eltar." He pointed to the floating head in the tube.

Now that her vision was clearer, she saw the humans better. The Red and Blue Rangers powered down, standing with the other humans. Rocky was slightly tanned with short brown hair, and Adam had black hair and lighter skin. Tanya had dark skin and soft lips while Kat was pale and blonde. "And I'm Tommy."

Tommy was tanned with muscular arms and long brown hair, cut to the style of the time, and Alura recognized him immediately, but didn't say anything. "Well you're obviously not human. Who are you?" Tommy asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you. I'm sorry Rangers, everything must be revealed in time. Please tell me how you get your powers on Earth. Where are they derived?"

"The Zeo Powers that we currently have are derived from the Zeo crystal." Explained Kat.

"And you, Billy… where do you fit into all of this?"

"I used to be the Blue Ranger on the original mighty morphin team." He explained.

_I thought I recognized your voice… _Thought Alura, but the others didn't hear her.

"But I've since retired as an active ranger as I believe that I am of more use here at the Command Center." Billy adjusted his glasses in an intelligent sort of way.

"And Zordon and Alpha have been here over the past four years, during the time of that team?"

The others were silent. "How… how do you know that?" asked Tommy, both bewildered and suspicious.

"I'll tell you in time," said the Gold Ranger, a wave of fatigue washing over her, and she swayed, Billy had to keep her upright by holding onto her shouldershield so she didn't fall off the bed.

"Why don't you power down?" suggested Billy. "You would probably be more comfortable."

"I can't allow you to see my face. I need to keep my identity secret, at least for now."

"But why all the secrecy?" asked Tommy.

"Just ask Zordon what happened to my home planet… then you will know what lengths people would go to in order to get my powers." Alura was suddenly reminded of her destroyed home planet, she stood up. "I'm sorry, I absolutely cannot stay." Holding in her pain she stood slowly. "I need to get back to the Pyramid; I'll be ok if I can get to it."

Billy sighed, knowing that she didn't completely trust them for the time being, even though the other Rangers didn't seem to realize this. "Here then, take this." Billy rummaged through a drawer and handed her a small metal wristband. "It's a communicator" he explained. "It allows you to contact Zordon and the other rangers, and it can teleport you anywhere within a 50 mile radius of Angel Grove."

"And various other locations that we have coordinates to." Added Alpha.

"Thank you all" said the Gold Ranger, putting it on her wrist. Tommy noticed that she was also wearing a bracelet with a red stone on it, and that her skin was a bit tanned like Rocky's was, "No doubt I'll be in touch soon. I would keep your guard up if I were you."

"We never let it down." said Adam, smiling slightly.

The Gold Ranger gave them a two fingered salute weakly, before teleporting out, leaving the humans alone in the command center. Billy immediately dived on the controls in an attempt to track her signal using the communicator. He managed to find it, but he lost the signal a few seconds later.

"It appears that she disabled the tracking device I put into the communicators." Billy was a little frustrated.

"How can we trust this ranger if she doesn't even trust us?" asked Rocky in aggravation.

"We still cannot be certain that she is an ally, but we can be certain that she is out there alone." said Zordon. "And next time she appears, we must get to her before the United Alliance of Evil does."

They glanced worriedly at each other. Tommy sat aside from the others and ran a strong hand through his long hair.

"What's on your mind, Tommy?" Asked Tanya.

"I was just thinking…" said Tommy.

"Watch it," said Rocky, trying to conceal a smile. "You might hurt yourself."

Tommy smiled too. "Ha ha, Rocky." He said sarcastically. "Actually, we'd better get back to the Youth center, guys. I've got Karate class in ten minutes."

"And I've got to go work out," said Rocky, flexing his muscles.

"You're only saying that because that new girl came into the youth centre earlier." Laughed Adam, punching Rocky on the shoulder. "Man, you've got no chance."

Kat and Tanya rolled their eye at each other as Rocky and Adam grabbed each other in a headlock and began wrestling.

"I'll catch up with you guys soon," said Billy. "I've got some experiments to do in my lab."

"C'mon guys, quit brawling." Tanya grabbed Adam and Rocky by their ears. "You coming, Tommy?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." The others all teleported out, leaving Tommy, Alpha and Zordon alone in the power chamber.

"Zordon…" said Tommy. "Do… do I know the Gold Ranger from somewhere?"

"I do not think so, Tommy. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno. It's like, I've met her before. I mean, before we fought Wolfbane… but I can't remember when."

"We will discuss this at a later date if you wish to pursue your curiosity." Said Zordon.

"Okay. See you round, Zordon." Tommy teleported out of the command center and to the youth center, and resumed his normal life for the time being.


	4. Chapter 4: Magnedude

Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, I'm a noob. Everytime I write an authers note, it doesnt save! GRRRRRR :/ :P Anyways, in this chapter, I have a monster called 'Magnedude'. I'm pretty sure that is actually the name of a pokemon, so just to clarify, I do not own pokemon. Sadly. Wow, there's so many shows out there that I wish I could own. I WANT THEM ALL!

Oh, and I forgot to mention something else. I do not own Power Rangers *sniff*, but I do own the character Alura. She's mine :)

A little bit of Bulk and Skull in this chapter, so enjoy!

Alura xx

* * *

><p>Tommy and Kat walked out of their final class for the day and bumped into Billy.<p>

"Hey, man," said Tommy. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to get some Vitamin D sometime, Tommy! I'm starting to feel like Alphas twin brother being in the Command Center all the time."

They laughed and glanced around to see if anyone had heard them. As usual, no one had.

"Speaking of all things Ranger," said Kat. "Have you heard anything of the Gold Ranger?"

Billy sighed and shook his head. "Not since last week at the command center."

They walked, talking and chatting together as they reached the youth center, where they saw Adam, Rocky and Tanya talking over their glasses of juice. Tommy, Kat and Billy joined the others just as Bulk and Skull bumbled in.

"Ladies and Gents," announced Bulk. "The best Detectives in Angel Grove would like your attention for one moment please."

"Well, where are they?" said a boy, looking around. Bulk raised his fist angrily the boy, wishing the boy could hear what he was thinking. Skull did the same, poking himself in the eye as he did so. Billy had to laugh at himself.

Everyone laughed rolled their eyes at Bulk and Skull, but gave them their attention anyway.

"We have evidence that there is another Power Ranger now in Angel Grove." Declared Skull, looking almost too pleased with himself. "And WE are gonna find out who this one is."

"You've tried that before, guys," sighed Ernie, carrying out a tray of juices for some of his customers. "And you didn't get any evidence whatsoever on the Rangers identities."

Bulk fixed his coat collar proudly. "Ah, yes, but we weren't proper detectives back then."

"Yeah" agreed Skull, pulling a magnifying glass and a pipe from his pocket, which he just happened to have with him. "Proper Detectives!"

"So," said Bulk, snatching the magnifying glass away from Skull and eyeing everyone through it suspiciously. "Who else has seen this new Ranger?"

"I haven't," said a girl on a treadmill. "And I don't think you're gonna find out it is, neither."

The table of Rangers smirked quietly at each other.

"I think that the Rangers are aliens." Said a boy.

"I think that they're robots." Said another girl.

"I think that my neighbour is actually a Power Ranger, even though he's really old, cos-"

Soon the youth centre erupted with conversation about the rangers. The table of Rangers just laughed quietly to each other as they listened to everyone's theories about them.

"Hey, hey!" yelled Skull over the crowd. "We aren't finished yet."

Everyone eventually stopped talking and turned their attention back to the 'detectives'.

"Like Bulky here was saying," said Skull, his speech muffled slightly by his pipe. "If anyone has seen this new Ranger, you come straight to us."

At that moment the monster alarm went off, and began to ring out all over the city. The room of teens groaned.

"Alright guys," said Ernie, setting down the tray of glasses. "You know the drill, don't panic, don't make any noise, and don't go outside."

There was a crash as the outer wall of the youth centre suddenly smashed, and plaster and debris went flying everywhere, sending the youths scattering, screaming as they went. The gold ranger smashed through the wall and landed heavily on the floor of the youth centre. As the dust from the plaster settled, the civilians and rangers saw the new ranger.

"Aw man," said Ernie, looking at his freshly smashed wall. "Who's gonna pay for that?"

The Gold Ranger groaned and got to her feet, dusting herself off.

"Sorry about the wall," she said, her voice sounding like that of a male. "I'll fix it, I promise. In the meantime, can everyone please go to a safer building?"

"My building was safe until you smashed a hole in it!" protested Ernie.

"He didn't smash your wall!" a voice came from outside. "I did!"

A monster with a head shaped like a horseshoe magnet jumped through the massive hole in the wall. The group of teens (and Ernie) began to scream, and they quickly made their way through the doors and spilled onto the street in search of a different safety zone. Only the table of teen heroes stayed behind. The Gold Ranger immediately drew her sword and dropped to a defensive stance. The table of rangers stood and summoned their Zeonisers, as Billy stood back. "Ready guys?" asked Tommy, eager to morph.

"Don't get involved, humans!" yelled the magnetic monster. "This is between me and the Gold One."

"I don't want you to come here again, Magnedude. You attract the wrong sort of crowd." said the Gold Ranger, who stood defensively between the Rangers and the magnetic monstrosity. She could see civilians running around outside through the hole in the wall, and they were obviously panicked. Most of them probably hadn't been that close to a monster before.

"Let's take this out of the city." She said, trying to negotiate. "It's me that you want, not these people."

"I don't negotiate with fools," said Magnedude. "Frankly, you're not even worth talking to. I just need you to tell me the location of your Pyramid, and then I'll be on my way."

Under her visor, the Gold Ranger narrowed her eyes. "Never."

The Gold Ranger dived on the magnet and teleported them both away instantaneously.

"Zordon, track that signal" said Billy into Adams communicator, not having his own communicator to talk into. He cursed silently at this, but he supposed that it was fair enough. He was no longer a Ranger, therefore had no right to use the Power Chambers resources on himself.

"Come to the command center, Rangers." said Zordons voice. "Alpha is unavailable at present. I need Billy to track the signal."

The Gold Ranger and the metallic monster circled each other, dust covering their feet. She hoped that she had teleported them far enough away from the city for their ensuing battle.

"Leave this planet, or I'll make you." said the Gold Ranger. But Magnedude simply laughed and outstretched his hand. Alura's sword suddenly flew from her grip, pulled away from her by an invisible magnetic force, and the monster caught it. "How dare you disarm me like that!" she spat. "You have no sense of honour!"

"I don't need honour, Gold One," said Magnedude, twirling the sword in one hand and holding out his other hand in her direction. "Honour is for fools!"

"Gold Power Staff!" shouted Alura, holding her hand in front of her visor as the gold power staff appeared in her hand. She held this powerful tool out in front of her. "I think that you are the fool here." As Magnedude tried to pull this new weapon away from her, it was Alura's turn to laugh. "Gold isn't magnetic." She looked ready to strike him. "That is your first mistake."

She rushed towards him, striking him with the staff. He blocked the strike with the Gold Ranger's sword and shoved her off. Both Ranger and Monsters gazes met as they stood defensively, ready to strike again at any moment. Magnedude ran forward, laughing wickedly, and ready to bring the Gold Ranger down.


	5. Chapter 5: The Power within

Chapter 5

A/N: Info on Alura revealed in this chapter! In saying that, it might sound strange, but hopefully it will make sense as more info is revealed. If it doesnt really make sense once I have explained everything, let me know. But that will be later on.

And, I probably should have mentioned this a little earlier, but to understand this story well, you probably need to have seen Mighty Morphin Power Rangers through to Zeo. I will be bringing a few characters from those other seasons back into this story. Who knows...

Okay, in this chapter, I'm bringing back... Ninjor! I absolutley ADORE Ninjor, he was my favourite part of Season 3 :) And, in my story, his temple is located on Earth, in the desert, a fair distance away from Angel Grove. I think in the TV show it was on another planet? Changing its location to Earth was just more convieniant for my story.

Enjoy! And please leave a review! :) I think this will be the last chapter I upload today, cos I need to edit the other chapters before posting them.

Alura xx

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><p>By the time that the Zeo Rangers arrived at the scene after Billy and Zordon had tracked the Gold Rangers teleportation residue, all they found was the Gold Ranger standing over the body of smouldering metal that was Magnedude. She reclaimed her sword from his grip as the rangers ran up to her.<p>

"What did he want?" asked Tommy.

"He's an old rival of mine," said the Gold Ranger, avoiding the question.

"Is he-" started Kat.

"No," said Alura, re holstering her sword. "He's not dead. Magnedude comes from one of the moons of my home planet. Don't worry; I'm going to take him back to my system. His people were generally rather kind to me, so it's my duty to show mercy to him now."

"That's an unusual way to show pity," Adam gestured to the smouldering metal on the ground.

"I can heal him when I take him back home," said the Gold Ranger. "It's just safer for all of us that he is in this state for now."

At that moment an unusual robot appeared, clutching a smaller robot. Alura could tell that the Zeo Rangers had seen him before, as they all immediately stood defensively between her and the new robots. The larger robot began to ramble at the rangers, but Alura didn't hear it. She was distracted by Magnedude, as he was twitching slightly as if in anticipation of something. She was bought back to reality as the robot began to swing the smaller robot around his head.

"… around and around and away you go!"

Alura instinctively ducked as the robot flung the smaller robot onto Magnedude. Before she could stop it, Magnedude was healed, his seared body growing to a massive height. The Rangers jumped back; the Gold ranger jumped more out of anger than surprise.

"We need super Zeo Zords, now!" shouted Rocky.

"No!" said Alura. "Your Zords are made out of the same metal that he's made of," explained the Gold Ranger. "He'll render your Zords useless with his magnetic power!"

"Then what do we do?" asked Tanya.

"Please," said the Gold Ranger, holding up her hands to stop the Rangers from interrupting her further. "I'll deal with him. It's the least I could do after you all saved my life last week."

Tommy nodded. "Be careful."

The Gold Ranger nodded back and stepped forward, raising her and to the sky. "I call upon the power of Pyramidas!"

There was a blinding flash of Gold as the summoned pyramid appeared in the sky. The Gold Ranger was teleported into it as Magnedude stomped across the desert towards her.

"Pyramidas, power up!"

Pressing the buttons on the control panel in front of her, the Pyramid charged across the desert and collided with Magnedude. The Zeo Rangers scrambled back to avoid the two clashing metals. A bolt of energy rocketed along the ground from the Pyramid and struck Magnedude.

He was electrocuted with energy, and he fell to the desert floor, sand and flames erupted around him. He shrunk back to his original size, but didn't show any signs of defeat. His magnetic head began to glow and he concentrated on any magnetic metal within the Pyramid. Inside the Pyramid, Alura could feel the strain on the Pyramid as it to be pulled across the desert toward Magnedude. She climbed out of the hatch and stood on the front of the pyramid, and began combating his force with her own power. The others could see that this was putting strain on the Gold Ranger as well as her Zord.

"Let's help the Gold Ranger out, guys!" shouted Tommy. "You know what to do."

The others nodded. "Right! Zeo cannon!" The Zeo cannon appeared and they positioned it at Magnedude. Tommy locked in his fuel cell. "Fire!"

Alura could only watch as Rangers destroyed Magnedude. He fell down to the ground and exploded into nothingness. Alura was shaking with rage as the Zeo cannon disappeared. Hadn't she just told the Rangers that she was going to take him home, not kill him? She could have destroyed him, but she didn't, only to have the Rangers finish the job. How could people who had such virtuous intentions kill so lightly? She clutched her head, trying to get rid of the aggression, before it was too late. Kat was the first to notice her rage.

"Guys…" she pointed to the Gold Ranger on the pyramid. Alura's rage took over, and she could no longer control what she was doing. She just hoped that the Rangers were smart enough to get out of her way before it was too late. She launched herself off the Pyramid and flew through the air, somersaulting and landing in a crouched position behind the Rangers. They spun around to face her, and her body language immediately screamed aggression towards them.

"Is that what you do on this planet?" asked the Gold Ranger, in a deep throaty voice that certainly wasn't her own, nor induced by that of the translation wire. "You get rid of anything that is different? I've seen it happen before…" She stepped closer. " But I never thought that Rangers would commit such an act."

"That creature was going to destroy you," said Tommy, stepping back a little, but still holding his ground. "No matter how kind you were to it. We know that your intentions are good, but not everything else in this universe can see that way."

"Obviously not." The Gold Ranger tilted her head to the side in a curious and mocking manner. "You stoop to the level of your enemies by destroying, but what would you do if you had a monster as an ally?" She laughed a little, sending a shiver up the Rangers spines. "Since the Gold Ranger won't introduce me, I'll introduce myself. I am the so-called 'secondary power source' that you were talking of. I am the power within." Tommy was the only one to hear her next sentence. _This is your fault, Thomas Oliver._

Suddenly she doubled over. Kat ran forward to help her, but Tommy held her back, sensing danger. The Zeo Rangers watched in utter horror and disbelief as the Gold Ranger who had once helped them transformed into an elegant yet vicious dragon. This dragon which stood in the Gold Rangers place had purple eyes, the colour of amethyst, and along its spine from the neck to tail was a swirling gold pattern, as if flames were burning down its back. The black shimmering scales were complemented by a pale gold coloured underbelly. She had no wings and a fearsome spike on the end of her tail. _Just like the Dragonzord, _thought Tommy. _What the hell is going on here?_ Alura was no longer in control; the power within had taken over her senses, especially that of reason. It was as if the Gold Ranger had never existed in that body. The dragon roared and stalked towards them aggressively.

"Tommy!" said Tanya as the Rangers began to back away. "We've never seen anything like this before! What do we do?"

"I don't know," said Tommy. "Don't attack. We might be able to reason with it…." He stepped forward cautiously. He couldn't help noticing that the dragon had been staring at him the whole time, and hadn't even glanced at the others.

"Gold Ranger," he said, trying to reason with the creature. "Listen to me. The only way we can guarantee everyone's safety was if we destroyed that monster. Some creatures are born evil, they know nothing else."

The dragon didn't seem to hear him, and swiped at him, hitting him with its sharp talons. Sparks flew as Tommy was knocked back, forced out of his morph. The others stood defensively in front of him.

"I'm fine," he told the others, but they knew that if he had been forced out of his morph, then it must have been a hard hit. The dragon growled, bearing its teeth.

"You're not a monster," said Rocky. "We know that you are good."

"Yes" agreed Kat. "We've seen you use your powers for good, not for evil."

_Good…for good… what does that even mean? _She thought._ What's wrong with me?_

The dragon saw Tommy and recognized his face from years past. Alura's mind began to gradually take back over her body. Slowly, her dragon form melted away, as if scattered by a breeze, her scales like leaves as they floated away into nothing. There was silence between them. No one could think of what to say. The Gold Ranger turned and launched herself in a powered leap to the pyramid.

"Wait!" called Adam. "Where are you going?"

"The power within me has put you all in danger." She said, her male voice ringing across the desert to the rangers. "And I promise you that it won't happen again."

"Stay with us," said Tommy, who was discreetly holding an injured arm. "Maybe we can help you."

"That wouldn't be fair, Rangers. I came to help you, and I haven't done much good so far. I refuse to be a burden to you." Alura turned away from them slightly. "You will see me again when the time is right." She looked to the sky. "I know you can hear this," she said, now addressing Mondo Rita and Zedd. "You've seen what I'm capable of. And I don't care that you know things about me, because that won't stop me from giving up on the things that matter." She turned her head back to the Rangers. "Tell Billy I said thank you."

She climbed into the hatch; the golden gates of the Pyramid closing behind her, The Rangers could only watch and stare in awe and astonishment at these events as she took off and activated the cloaking device. Alura took off her helmet and stared at her sorry self in the reflection of a shiny panel in the cockpit. She took out a small blade from the sole of her boot and made three small parallel cuts on her left cheek. She knew that she would have scratched Tommy's arm in a similar way just now. This was a mark of shame. She was a Power Ranger, and she refused to be a monster, and she would not see them again until the marks had healed completely.

As the pyramid disappeared, Tommy raised his scratched arm to talk into his communicator. "Billy, can you trace that signal?"

"I'm afraid not, Tommy," they heard Billy say. "That Zord has the most advanced cloaking technology I've ever seen."

"Do not fear, Rangers," they heard Zordon say. "I am certain that the Gold Ranger will not leave the planet."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she has nowhere else to go."

In his sacred Temple, the warrior Ninjor felt a disturbance in power balance somewhere near him. He emerged from his bottle as he felt a familiar presence nearby.

"Those powers…" he questioned to himself. "But… why is she-"

His ramblings were cut off as the whole temple and the gardens surrounding it shook as the Pyramid flew at low altitude over them. Ninjor grasped his sword and launched himself to the temple entrance, speeding through the gardens and going out to the desert. He stood defensively by the entrance, not sure whether to expect friend or foe. The hatch opened and the Gold Ranger tumbled out, rolling down the side of the Pyramidas, landing heavily in the dust. Ninjor approached the weakened figure cautiously, but stopped when he saw the Ranger get to her feet.

"Oho?" called Ninjor. "Be thee friend or foe?"

The Gold Ranger put her hand on the side of the pyramid, activating the cloaking device and turning it invisible. She breathed heavily, speaking in her female voice, knowing that she was protected from prying eyes in this area. "Friend."

At this, Ninjor re holstered his sword and ran to her as she stumbled forward. He helped her into the temple garden, closing a stone door behind them.

"It's good to see you again, Ninjor."

Ninjor sat Alura down on some rocks. "I wish I could say the same to you," he said "Look at you! I haven't seen you like this since the Dragonzord incident."

"Well," said Alura. "The past does most often come back to haunt us."

"Spoken like a true warrior." Ninjor noticed her inhale a little too sharply for his liking, and then he noticed her rib. "I thought I told you to take it easy if you get hurt badly." He put a hand on her rib, and instantly knew where the injury came from. "You were stabbed by Herox the Bounty Hunter last week? You need to rest to heal this wound properly, have I taught you nothing?"

"I can rest when I'm dead," said Alura. "Besides, you have taught me many great things, which is why I seek your wisdom now."

"Let's talk inside where you can rest more comfortably." They went inside the temple, where they went into a room that looked like a meditation room, but was set up like a first aid room.

"Power down." Said Alura, and there was a flash of gold light as she de morphed. Under her ranger armour she was wearing traditional Aerovillian battle attire, which consisted of clothing that could hold various weapons, including a huge sword which she had strapped to her back.

"So"' said Ninjor, sitting her down. "What brings you to earth? You could have gone to KO-35 or Triforia, or even Aquitar, but you chose to come here. Why?"

He looked at her rib which she had roughly bandaged, but it had bled through the material.

"A few years ago I broke into the Alliance headquarters, and I uncovered top secret plans. They are overtaking intelligent, superior and developing planets. After destroying my own planet in an attempt to aquire my powers, this planet is now their next target. And after this planet is destroyed, they will more on to KO-35, then Triforia and possibly Aquitar if they can find a way to get past all the water." She began to unwind the bandage slowly and painfully. "Those planets can look after themselves, but this planet is young and inexperienced." Ninjor picked up an ointment. "These humans are capable of so much, Ninjor. It's their time now, the time of Aerovils is up, and the time of humans is beginning." Ninjor cocked his head to the side. "But they are still a young race. I need to assist them. I have knowledge of the Aerovils to help me, but the humans here do not have knowledge of ages except for the knowledge that they gain from elders such as Zordon and yourself."

"You should have contacted me about this before you came," said Ninjor. "I thought that you were dead."

Alura shrugged. "I was coming to see you, but then I had to help the Rangers against Wolfbane. It was better that you thought I was dead for the time being… because they don't only want to kill me for my powers. They want to kill me for the information I possess. I know all of their plans. Tell only who you must, Ninjor, but make sure that they don't find out that other people know. If the Alliance finds out, they will launch Operation REDLESS."

"What is that?"

"They will destroy all of earth's previous, current and future Red Rangers. Unfortunately, they accessed files from the Dekabase in Japan which gave them information on every Ranger team on earth for the next ten or so years."

"So that's why you're here. The Dragon warrior is now the Red Ranger." Ninjor poked some of the ointment into her wound, and she flinched sharply. "Well, if you had let it heal properly it wouldn't hurt so much!"

"I lost the link with the Dragon Warrior when he lost his powers for the second time." said Alura. "I didn't know that he was the current Red Ranger until I came to help them against Wolfbane. When he spoke I recognized him, but I didn't know for sure until I saw him in the flesh."

"You are more stubborn than a Putty, Gold One. You have to understand that your power is unlike anyone else's, no matter how much you want it to be so. You and the Dragon Warrior are not alike."

"I thought… maybe… I would finally find someone like me…I guess I'm just tired of being alone." She sighed. "But your right, as usual. We're not alike. I hurt him. I know that he would never intentionally hurt his friends."

"I know that you wouldn't hurt your friends intentionally either, Alura. Those dragon powers are not yourself, and you must remember that."

A heavy silence fell over them as Ninjor redressed Alura's knife wound with a special bandage.

"I can teach you some mind techniques to supress the power within so that your powers don't fluctuate so often while you're here.' said Ninjor. 'I can't guarantee that these techniques will last for the amount of time that you will spend on this planet, but they will certainly help."

"Thank you, old friend."

"Never fear, Ninjor's here!"

Alura smiled at her friends' catchphrase. It had been a long time since she had smiled.


	6. Chapter 6 Walk in the Park

Chapter 6

A/N: Hi, everyone. My dog is really not well today, so I'm uploading another chapter as a distraction. Please Review :) Warning, this chapter contains violence and swearing.

Alura xx

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><p>Tommy after a few weeks was finally able to take his hurt arm out of its sling, even though three thin parallel scars remained. He was thankful that there had been no monster attacks since then. He would have hated to sit out helpless while his friends fought, but still, he suspected that Mondo was trying to give them a false sense of security. Or he was putting all of his recourses into finding the Gold Ranger. When people asked him how he had hurt himself, he told them that he had fallen off one of his uncles motorbikes, even though Tommy knew that his Uncle would never lend him one without permission from his parents. Kat looked from her desk across to Tommy as the bell went for the end of the day. He was looking at his scratched arm in a distracted sort of way. He had hardly written anything. The other students and Ms Applebee left the classroom, but Tommy didn't even seem to notice.<p>

"Tommy?"

Tommy snapped back to reality and saw Kat. He smiled in a distracted sort of way. "Sorry Kat."

She sat down next to him. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," said Tommy, beginning to gather his books up. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about the Gold Ranger?"

Tommy stopped for a moment. "Yeah. I just…" He waved his arm. "Nah, don't worry about it."

"Tommy, if there is something bothering you, you can talk to me."

"Yeah, I know, Kat. Thanks." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Seriously, Kat. I'll talk to you if I want to, but not now. Remember we're meeting the others at the park?"

A ball of paper hit Tommy in the face as Rocky and Tanya stumbled into the room grinning.

"Come on, you two lovebirds." laughed Tanya. "We'll be late!"

"Besides, Tommy," grinned Rocky. "We really need to work on your special awareness if you didn't notice us before."

Tommy and Kat smiled at each other before Tommy chased Rock out of the room.

When they arrived at the park, Adam and Billy were already there, passing a football to each other.

"Hey, Tommy!" called Billy. "How's your arm?"

Tommy smiled widely, stretched his arm up to the sky. "All better."

"Great!" called Adam, throwing him the ball. "You can be on my team!"

They all laughed as they ran after Tommy, who passed the ball back to Billy. Billy was about to throw the ball when the smile disappeared off his face. He saw something watching them. As his not so good vision focused, he saw it was the Black and Gold Dragon. Suddenly, all the norms of their lives melted away as they were faced with something extraordinary once again.

"Guys!" He immediately dropped the ball as they regrouped. Looking around to see if anyone else was in the park, the Rangers summoned their Zeonisers. The Dragon didn't do anything, it just continued to watch them, but it didn't seem at all aggressive.

"Wait a minute," said Tommy. "Don't morph yet." He began to walk forward.

"Tommy! What are you doing?" asked Tanya.

"I don't know." The Dragon also began to walk forward. They came within two meters of each other, and then they stopped. The Dragon stared at him, and then bowed its elegant head to him and the others. The Dragon melted away to reveal the Gold Ranger. They all stood there silently, wondering what was going to happen next.

"I've come to apologize," said the male voice of the Gold Ranger. "I have caused you all great alarm, and I'm sorry." Under her visor she was looking at Tommy. _I would never hurt you intentionally, Thomas Oliver._ Tommy heard the words in his mind, and he nodded as if to accept her apology."I have gained control of the power within for now, but I don't know how long it's going to last." She said. "Will you… still allow me to stay on this planet? If you do not want me here, I will leave immediately."

"No, please stay," said Tommy. "I think we could use all the help we can get."

Under her helmet, the Gold Ranger smiled. The others were smiling too. The team was now of six Rangers, just like the old days.

The moment was broken by a crackling sound. It was only small, but enough to arouse the Gold Rangers suspicions. She raised her hand to the rangers signaling to stop any further conversation as she looked around. "Did anyone hear that?" she said, her male voice speaking quietly to them.

"Hear wha-," started Tanya, but they saw the source of the noise soon enough. At first they only saw a light through the trees, but then they realized it was an energy bolt was making its way towards the Gold Ranger.

"Get down!" she yelled, and the rangers threw themselves to the ground. Alura shot out her hands and caught the bolt of energy, and absorbed the energy before it could hurt anyone.

"What was that?" asked Rocky. As the rangers looked around, they heard the monster siren go off in the distance.

"It must be a new monster." said Adam.

"Or an old one." They all turned to see what the Gold Ranger was talking about, and then realized in horror what she was looking at. There, with an army of Tengus to back her up, was Rita Repulsa. Alura took a defensive stance in front of the teens. They were all a bit shocked to see Rita. After all since getting the Zeo powers Mondo had become the primary enemy.

_Rita… I should kill you right now for what you've done…_ thought Alura, and the Rangers stepped next to her, taking defensive stances against their common enemies. _You are going to pay for what you've done to Thomas and me…_

"I recommend that you morph, Rangers." She said. "This could get nasty."

_-flashback-_

_The Gold Ranger ran through the side streets of Angel Grove, holding a small tracking device out in front of her, the kind that intergalactic bounty hunters used on their targets. On its screen was a faint signal, but she knew that it was the right one. Would she make it in time? Could she stop Rita? She stopped for a moment, coordinating herself in this foreign place, and looked back at the signal in the small screen. She was so close now, but she kept in mind that she couldn't be seen by anyone. Running towards an apartment block, she leapt, soared through the air and landed on its roof. The device bleeped as another signal appeared on it, and she could tell that the second signal was of evil intent. She ran as fast as she could, jumping across the rooftops, hoping to minimize the distance between them, but the roofs eventually ran out. She dived off the roofs and sprinted through some back alleyways, dropping the tracking device as she neared the signals. _

_But she was too late. The Gold Ranger rounded a corner in time to see a green aura engulf a teenager, and teleport him away. She heard a witch cackle, and then the witch too disappeared, leaving the alleyway empty. The Gold Ranger sunk to her knees and slammed her fist on the ground in frustration and despair. "No…" She was too late. The Dragon Warrior had been chosen, and he would be working for evil, not for good. _

_She gasped quietly for a few minutes, taking in the sudden event that she had tried to prevent so much. Yet, she wasn't good enough to stop it, after everything she had tried… she was still a failure. She stood shakily, her time and efforts wasted. She had traveled for a month to get there, and she realized that it had all been for nothing. She also realized that she should go back to Aerovillia. At least she knew his colour now. She powered down, her brown wavy hair falling down past her shoulders as she went to the spot where the teenager had been and picked up his green bag. If she hadn't been so distraught, she would have laughed at the irony of the colours. Green bag, Green Ranger. I guess some things were meant to be, she thought. _

_She opened the bag and looked at the unknown teens belongings. In it she found a pair of sneakers, a notebook from a school class, a black belt with a martial arts uniform (of a strangely named martial art that Alura was sure was of earth origin), and a wallet. Opening the wallet, he found a picture of the mystery teen, and a male adult. She looked at the picture closely, taking it in. The teen had shoulder length wavy hair, and hazel eyes that were closer to green than brown. The man in the picture was obviously not his biological father, but Alura could see that the two humans shared the same care and concern for each other as she had shared with her own father. _

_It was then that she knew. She couldn't go home until she had helped this human. She couldn't allow those people in the picture to become separated. She knew enough lives that had been ruined, enough families that had been torn apart. _

_The last thing that she looked at was his driver's license. She looked at the picture, the date of birth, and the name. Thomas James Oliver. He was the same age as her._

_Putting the belongings back into the bag exactly where she had found them, she stood back and held her arms out strongly from her sides. Putting one foot behind the other, she crossed her forearms in front of her face, and as she bought them down, she seemed to burst into golden flames. As the flames subsided, the determined figure of the Gold Ranger stood in her place, ready for action…_

_-end flashback-_

"It's nice to see you again, Gold one," said Rita, curling her fingers around her magic staff.

"It's a shame I can't say the same thing about you," Alura said, her male voice sounding louder than she had intended. "You're not exactly someone that I would see by choice."

Rita spoke sideways to one of the Tengus. "Always the sarcasm." The Tengus just chuckled.

"What do you want, Rita?" Tommy demanded,

"Now Tommy, is that any way to speak to your empress?" Rita stopped laughing, and shot a hand out towards him, some invisible force pushed Tommy back, slamming him against a tree, and he crumpled to the ground. Billy rushed to his side, as the others got ready to morph.

"I'll take Rita," the Gold Ranger said, not taking her eyes off Rita. "You guys handle the Tengus."

As Tommy seemed to be out of action for a few minutes, they didn't have a choice but to follow the Gold Rangers request as the Tengus and Rita advanced. Rita and Alura staffs clashed as the others morphed and engaged the Tengus.

"It's just you and me this time, Rita." She growled, throwing Rita off.

Rita sneered. "Really? I think it would be a shame to leave Tommy out, don't you? Let's include him in our little game."

Rita began chanting a mind control spell, and even as Alura tried to combat it, she could feel it hacking into both her own mind and Tommy's. The two warriors clutched their heads simultaneously, trying to block Rita out.

"You can't have him, anymore," the Gold Ranger spat through clenched teeth. "He doesn't belong to anyone. He is free from evil, now and forever."

"He is mine! He will never be free from evil!" Rita cocked her head to one side as she discovered a thought in the Gold Rangers mind. "And, as I understand it, neither will you…" Rita laughed as Billy helped Tommy to his feet. Both Alura and Tommy were still clutching their heads, trying desperately to block Rita out. Alura knew that she could block Rita out, but she wasn't so sure about Tommy. Rita had entered his mind before, so therefore he would be easier to break.

Alura couldn't stand it anymore. "Gold reinforcement shield" She threw her hands out from her head. A huge gold cube appeared around her and Rita, blocking them from the fighting outside. Rita stopped cackling, and Alura could feel her stop pressuring their minds.

"What is this?" she demanded holding out her staff, the sound of the fight outside the cube disappearing.

"This is my ultimate forcefield technique." The Gold Ranger spoke calmly, almost triumphantly, as she rested her own power staff on her shoulder. "Nothing can get in or out, it's also soundproof, protected from any sort of surveillance, and I am the only one who can bring it down. So I wouldn't recommend attacking me right now. If you kill me you'll be trapped in here forever."

Rita narrowed her eyes. "Your forcefields are quite meddlesome. And I should know, you've prevented me from ever launching a full scale attack on this planet with your stupid shield! What is it that you want, Gold One?"

"Well, I'm not gonna get it," said Alura "But I want you leave this planet alone and never come back."

"You're right; you're not going to get it." Rita remarked. "So what are you going to do now that you've got me trapped in here?"

Alura narrowed her eyes back, even though Rita wouldn't be able to see that hint of aggression towards her. "I'm not going to attack you, if that's what you mean. I would never fight on uneven stakes. It's not honourable. Instead, you're going to give me some information."

Rita snorted. "And why would I do that?"

"Well… let's just say I'm not going to attack you." Suddenly her voice changed deep and throaty. "But I might."

"So it was you," said Rita. "It was you who- What are you now?"

"Don't waste my time, Repulsa!" shouted the Gold Ranger. "You're going to tell me where the Dragonzord currently is." She held her staff out. "Now."

Tommy morphed and joined the battle, the voice and pressure in his mind having been lifted.

"What's going on in there?" shouted Adam, smashing two Tengus heads together.

"I dunno!" shouted Rocky. "Can't be good, though!"

"It never is with Rita!" shouted Kat as she drew her laser pistol and fired at several Tengus.

All of a sudden, Tommy turned to see a giant wolf monster behind him, which appeared to be an updated, angrier and hairier version of Wolfbane. It looked like a werewolf to Tommy, as it had a very strong upper torso, and stood on its hind legs.

"Zeo sword!"

Tommy swung his weapon against the massive canine, but it had little effect as it roared and turned its attention towards Billy.

"Shit!" Billy swore in a rare moment of panic, and stayed still, leaning up against the thick trunk of a tree. The other rangers may have mistaken this for shock, but Billy knew that if he stayed still it was less likely to attack him. Well, that's what you were supposed to do with normal dogs anyway…

Tommy must have mistaken Billy's actions for that of shock, as he immediately dived on the monster, sending himself and the hairy beast rolling across the grass and smashing into the cubed forcefield, making Tommy drop his sword. The beast roared and went to bite Tommy's shoulder, bearing its teeth hungrily. Tommy couldn't reach his sword from where he was, and he was prevented from grabbing his pistol as the beast bore down on him.

The others tried desperately to get to him, but were held back by Tengus.

"Tommy!"

"No!"

Tommy closed his eyes. This was going to hurt, even in morphed form. As the beast almost bit him, he felt a figure launch itself between them. He opened his eyes. Where the beast should have bitten him, it had bitten the Gold Ranger. However, it didn't seem to hurt her as much because of her shouldershield. The Gold Ranger threw the beast off and helped him up. The cubed forcefield was gone. So was Rita.

"You okay?"

"I think so." Tommy was shaking slightly, but he hoped the others wouldn't notice. The Tengus saw that Rita was gone and they screeched and leapt through a portal, transporting them away. However, the canine beast still remained, probably because it was most likely sent by Mondo, not Rita. The Rangers regrouped, breathing heavily.

'Rangers, we gotta take care of this!' breathed Tommy. 'Billy, get back to the command center!'

"Here!" the Gold Ranger took off her communicator and threw it to Billy.

"But-"

"I'll get it back from you later," said Alura. "But right now you've got to get out of here!"

Billy hesitated, and then used the communicator to teleport away, knowing that he would be endangering himself if he stayed. Sometimes he wished that he was still a Ranger…

Turning his attention back to the beast, Tommy thought quickly. "Alright guys, we'd better bring the Zeo cannon together."

The others hesitated, remembering what had happened the last time they had destroyed a monster with the Gold Ranger around. However, the Gold Ranger had shown no hint of wanting to keep this monster alive. The monster ran towards them, slashing them all across the chest and sending them flying backwards.

"That thing is fast!" said Adam, clutching his torso.

"If I hold him, can you guys take him down?"

"Sure."

'"Please be quick!" The Gold Ranger got up and launched herself onto the monster, grabbing its horns and pulling its head down so that it was level with hers, momentarily immobilizing it.

"Zeo Cannon!"

The Zeo Rangers heard a scream, and saw the Gold Ranger try to wrench the monsters teeth away from herself. "Fire it!" The Rangers tried, but the monster was smart enough to swing the Gold Ranger in front of him, obscuring a clear shot from the Rangers. She kept a grip on its horns, but felt it slipping.

"We can't get a clear shot!" Tommy locked in his fuel cell so that the Rangers were ready to fire at any moment. "Adam, take over shooting, I'm going to help the Gold Ranger!"

He left the Zeo cannon with the others and grabbed the monster from behind. The monster swept a claw around, slashing Tommy's newly healed arm. Alura kicked the beast on its leg, getting its attention away from Tommy. By doing this, Alura lost her grip on the beast and it bit down hard on her helmet, and began to crush her head. She could feel one of its teeth digging into the side of her forehead. Tommy slashed it with his sword, and pulled Alura away from it, her helmet cracking as it was wrenched from the monsters mouth.

"Fire!"

They dived to the ground as the others fired the Zeo cannon. Flames erupted from the beast as it was incinerated, blowing flames over the two warriors. They lay still and instantly covered their heads. As soon as the flames cleared, the others ran to them and helped them up.

"Gee, that was close," remarked Rocky. "You guys alright?"

Tommy stood, laughing slightly. "No matter how many explosions we make, I never get used to the heat."

The Gold Ranger stood there, shaking slightly, trying to hold together the remnants of her helmet and failing miserably as it began to fall apart in her gloved hands.

"C'mon, let's get you back to the Command center." Said Adam.

"No," she said a little too quickly. "I'm fine."

"Well, you've got to come with us anyway." Said Tanya.

"Yeah," agreed Kat. "Billy's got your communicator."

Alura nodded in a small way, causing a piece of her visor to crack, and Alura saw the daytime of Angel Grove properly for the first time in years. She squinted, the light coming as rather harsh to her eyes. Kat held on to her gently so that they were able to teleport, and she felt the Gold Ranger flinch slightly at her touch. The others grabbed their stuff, and they all teleported at once, leaving the park as suddenly as the Rita and the Tengus had.


	7. Chapter 7: Few answers, more questions

**Hi everyone! I hope everyone is well :) I'm really sorry I didnt update for ages, the USB I was working on with this story on it broke, and I lost some edits, so I hope this chapter still makes sense without them because I cant remember them all :/. And also, I went back to school (schoolwork, argh), my dog is still sick, and I started working on a Ninja Turtles story. Which is probably the main culprit, so if you feel inclined to check it out, please do :) Again, thanks to all my reviewers etc, and please review this chapter if you enjoyed it. **

**Alura xx**

Chapter 7

As soon as they arrived at the command centre, the Gold Rangers helmet fell apart completely, breaking into three large pieces that fell with a crunch to the command centre's floor. The others powered down, hoping that the gesture would make her feel a little more casual in their presence. They didn't want to be intimidating to her. Alura put her hands over her face so that the Rangers couldn't see her, but it was too late. Her wavy brown hair fell down to just above her waist. Billy quickly sat her down on a bench as she swayed, and he noticed one of her gloves had blood on it from the wound on her head.

"You're hurt." He said gently, giving her back her communicator. "Let me see it."

"No…" she spoke in her normal female voice now. "It's Okay."

"Gold Ranger," boomed Zordon. "You must stop being so stubborn. It may very well cost you your life one day."

"Like you can talk, Zordon!" she retorted, feeling a little more dizzy at her outburst. The others glanced at each other.

"We understand that there's a lot that you don't want us to know about you," said Tommy. "But Zordon is right. Your hidden identity could very well cost you your life. And I would rather that you live with some people knowing who you are than you die because you're protecting your identity." Tommy's voice grew stern. "Take your hands away from your face. And that's an order."

Tommy hardly recognized himself. It was one of the few times that he had used his authority as a Red Ranger against someone who wasn't a part of the Zeo team. Perhaps it was because the Gold Ranger reminded himself of a younger, lost version of himself.

Reluctantly, the Gold Ranger put her hands down onto her lap and looked up. Other than the blood on her forehead caused by the teeth marks, she was beautiful. Not sexy, but just beautiful. She had dark brown eyes that had a bit of purple close to the pupil and small lines of gold rocketing out from the center. She had long eyelashes and her lips were a healthy colour. Except for her eyes, she could pass as a human. Despite all of this, Tommy still sensed something sad about her. Perhaps there was a painful past behind those eyes?

She looked down; hiding her eyes from them as Billy gently wiped her head wound with disinfectant.

"It's pretty deep, but you'll be fine." As usual, Billy was the only one who was concentrating at this point. Adam Rocky, Tommy, and even Alpha were still staring at her. Kat and Tanya cleared their throats and poked them all sharply in the ribs.

"Ow!" they complained, but Alura didn't seem to notice.

"I… I guess it's nice to see you all face to face." She said, looking up at them again.

"Likewise!" Rocky extended a hand towards her with a goofy grin. Alura was slightly puzzled, and Adam pulled Rocky back, slapping him slightly upside the head.

"I don't understand why your helmet broke," Said Billy, picking up the pieces of helmet and setting them on a workbench next to her. "Normal Ranger armour wouldn't crack like that."

"Honestly, you consider me as normal?" Alura almost laughed at the notion. "The only part of my armour that actually protects me is my shoulder shield. The rest might as well be material."

"Of course," said Zordon. "As the power increased, it became concentrated into just the shield, because that is where power is inserted. My own Eltarian armour used to operate in a similar way."

Alura, nodding as she remembered her knowledge of Eltarian armour, took the pieces of helmet and held them together. "That's right. The more power I have, the weaker my armour is. Of course, I try to put what magic I have into my armour, but it most often ends up in the battle."

"You have magic?" asked Adam.

"Well," shrugged Alura. "It's more accurate to call it excess power. The power sometimes leaks through to my normal form, giving me powers that most certainly aren't normal."

"What did Rita want anyway, Zordon?" asked Adam. "I was honestly a bit surprised to see her."

"I do not know, Rangers. It was most likely a random attack, as Rita seemed to be looking for the Gold Ranger."

"My apologies." Said Alura, holding a hand over her head wound, but not obscuring her face like she had before. "I should have contacted you by communicator, not face to face. She just wanted to rant at me for something. I told her to stay away from all of you." Alura shrugged. "I doubt she'll do it, though."

"Indeed. And that 'something' the Rita wanted to rant at you about has proven to be the best defence this planet has come across for a long time." A new voice rung in the command centre. The Rangers spun around to see a familiar figure teleport in.

"Ninjor?" they collectively gasped in surprise and delight. They hadn't expected to see him after they had lost their Ninja Powers. Tanya was a bit puzzled by this warrior, having never seen him before, but she smiled at him anyway.

"Greetings, Rangers." He said. "I trust the Gold Ranger has been looking after you all."

Alura rolled her eyes at Ninjor's sarcasm. 'Hello again, _seniorum amicus_.'

"Now young lady, don't call me that! I'm regretting teaching you Latin. It makes me feel old!"

"You are old."

"…Oh." Ninjor turned his attention back to the Zeo Rangers. "Anyway, I'm just popping by to tell you a few things about your friend here."

"Ninjor-"

"She may be stubborn, but she is also modest. She has been protecting you for a lot longer than you think."

"What are you talking about, Ninjor? She's only just met us." Adam stated.

"Or have you just only met her?"

Adam and Tommy glanced at each other, both confused, and now, suspicious.

"Don't-"

"A few years ago when I gave Zordon the first five power coins, I met the Gold Ranger." Ninjor made himself comfortable, sitting himself next to Alura, who was visibly stiffening at his words. "She had tracked Rita's signal to this planet, and was trying to help the original team without making herself known. During this time, she worked out how to set up an undetectable forcefield around the planet Earth, stopping anyone with negative or 'evil' energy from reaching the surface."

"It's imperfect." Alura spoke, startling the Rangers as she interrupted. "It covers the planet, but there are weak spots. The largest ones are directly over Angel grove, and over the largest Island of Japan."

"Nevertheless," continued Ninjor, determined not to be spoken over. "If it wasn't for this forcefield, you would be having a lot more monster attacks. Rita, Zedd and Mondo would be able to send ten monsters down at a time, accompanied by 200 putties or cogs or the like."

"Is this true, Gold Ranger?" boomed Zordon, glaring at her from his tube. "And if so, why were you not using this power to protect your own planet against these threats?"

Alura nodded. "It's true. I did put up the forcefield. But… I only had enough power to maintain it on one planet. At the time, Earth was in more immediate danger, so I put it up here, and I put up a temporary one around Aerovillia. As it turns out, the one around Aerovillia wasn't strong enough to hold out all of the Alliances forces when they attacked." She looked down. "Besides," she seemed both sad and angry at the same time. "If you all knew what my planet was like, you wouldn't want to save it either."

"I've told you not to say that." Said Ninjor

"Who are you, my Father?" Alura was obviously not happy that Ninjor was telling the Rangers all of these things."Zordon, do you have any files on Aerovillia?"

"Yes, Gold Ranger."

"Please put them on the viewing globe."

There was a moment of silence as they all looked to the viewing globe. It showed a bunch of hooligans on huge motorbike like vehicles, roaring around the streets. The sky was dark, and the people were laughing. Not like they were happy, but like they had caused harm to someone else and were enjoying it.

"I was the evil one there, because I was the odd one out. I was the only one who even attempted to be virtuous besides my father. Any Aerovils who were true of heart I took to colonies on the moons and other planets so that they didn't have to live among sinners. The last one to go was my Father, but he refused to leave, because he thought that I should be protecting everyone. Even protect those who didn't deserve it. The biggest thing threatening Aerovillia was its people." Alura felt a single tear roll down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. "I… couldn't save them from themselves. I tried to help them… but I just couldn't."

"Thank you." They all turned to see Tommy speak. It was surprising to see him look at her like he was, and he sounded like he really meant it. "I… think Earth would have been defeated a long time ago if it wasn't for that forcefield. So… thanks."

Alura was slightly surprised. No one… no one had ever really… thanked her for her deeds.

"…You're quite welcome."

The moment was suddenly interrupted by what almost sounded like a telephone. The Rangers all jumped at the sudden sound.

"Zordon," said Alpha. "We are receiving a communication from the Aquitar Rangers. Should we respond?"

"Please do, Alpha."

The Rangers and Billy moved to the viewing globe. Ninjor glanced at Alura. She nodded, and, understanding her concerns, Ninjor stood in front of her, deliberately concealing her from the view of anyone who would appear on the viewing globe. She wouldn't mind seeing the Aquitar Rangers, but she knew that they would mind seeing her. They had their differences after all… Besides, she shouldn't even let them know that she was alive and on Earth.

The image went static for a moment, and then two aliens appeared on the screen.

"Aurico! Delphine!" Tommy was obviously pleased to see these Alien Rangers. "How can we help you?"

"Sorry, Rangers." Said Delphine, moving her head slightly in an Aquitian fashion. "We realize that the attacks against your planet have increased, but we would not contact you unless absolutely necessary."

"Of course, what seems to be the problem?"

"We need your assistance in retrieving an item." Aurico said. "An item that we can use to heal Tideus and Corcus."

"Heal?" said Adam, feeling concern for their fellow Power Rangers. "What happened to them?"

"The two went on a mission to one of the moons of the planet Aerovillia to retrieve any surviving Aerovils after the planet was destroyed," explained Aurico. "We are not sure if they found anyone, but they became severely dehydrated whilst there."

"Our water alone is not enough to properly hydrate them again. We fear that without the healing power of the Ice Sword, they will not recover. However, the sword is hidden in a cavern many miles below Aquitars surface, and the cavern requires at least eight warriors who are pure of heart to enter in order to get the sword. Otherwise the sword will shatter and we will have no healing item."

"We'll be there within half an hour."

"Thank you, Rangers." Delphine nodded. "Cestro will send through co ordinates shortly."

The image went static and disappeared. Ninjor sat back down next to Alura before the Rangers could notice that he had stood in the first place.

"Rangers," said Zordon. "You must take great care on Aquitar. These caverns hold many dangers."

"Please be careful," said Alura. "All of you must go in order to access the cave. I know, because I've been there before."

"You've been there-" Alura looked away, avoiding the question, and Tommy changed the subject. "What about you?" asked Tommy. "Will you be okay?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll stay here and protect Angel Grove in your absence." She took her hand off her head wound, and the Rangers saw that it had already healed over slightly. "I heal quicker than you do."

"We shouldn't be too long." Said Tommy. "Today's Friday, so we should be able to be away until at least midday tomorrow without too many people noticing."

"And, as usual, I'll call your parents." Said Zordon, sounding almost as if these events were just a regular day for him. "Good luck Rangers and may the power protect you."

They assembled for teleportation. Tommy nodded at Billy, Ninjor and Alura. They all nodded back, and the Zeo Rangers teleported out. Alura stood the moment that they left.

"Ninjor," she said. "Now that Zordon and the Rangers know about the forcefield, you need to go back to the temple and guard the forcefield generator. With your life if necessary."

"Will do." Ninjor saluted her in a mocking yet friendly sort of way.

"And Billy…" Alura turned to him. "Thanks for your help... but go home and get some rest. You look tired."

Billy adjusted his glasses, but didn't say anything. Alura picked up the pieces of her helmet and held them together. A Gold light channeled from her hands to her helmet, engulfing it, before subsiding to reveal the helmet completely mended, and as good as new. She put it on, Billy and Zordon gaping at each other in astonishment. If anyone could see his face beneath the visor, they would have seen Ninjor roll his eyes at the display of power.

"You can contact me if you like," she said. "But if there's trouble, no doubt I'll already be there."

"Good luck Gold Ranger, and once again, may the power protect you."

Alura nodded and then pointed at Billy. "And look after this one, Alpha."

"Of course." Beeped Alpha as she teleported out of the command center.

"I hope she'll be alright," said Billy. "She's a good person to have around. I like her."

Ninjor just stood, wondering if he had made a good decision. Regardless of whether he had or not, the Rangers now knew a bit more about her. And he knew that in the long run, it would help. Billy spoke briefly with Zordon, then teleported home, making the decision to build some more spare communicators in his lab.

Ninjor was about to leave himself when he was stopped.

"Ninjor, old friend." Zordons voice stopped Ninjor. "We must talk."

* * *

><p>As night fell on Angel Grove, Alura stood on the top of a tall building, watching over the city. The Rangers had not yet returned. The rest of the day had been uneventful, but Alura remained suspicious of the Alliance of Evil. They would know that the Rangers had gone from the city, but they would also know that the Gold Ranger was still there, and that she was a force to be reckoned with. She had given a piece of her mind to Rita, and Zedd and Mondo would know that they could be next. Alura could see humans walking on the street below her, and she watched the closely. If Aerovillia had taught her anything, it was that corruption could come from anywhere, not just from her most hated enemies.<p>

She launched herself off the building and, as she fell, transformed into the dragon. Twisting her body like a snake did, she glided through the air and scanned the perimeter of the city. Ninjor had warned her that by doing this it might increase the chances of power fluctuation, she knew that it was the only way that she was going to scan the city properly. And indeed, something was wrong. In the distance she could see an orange glow against the sky, but it wasn't the sun setting.

_Fire._

When she got close enough to the source of light, she realized that a whole six story building was alight. She landed about a block away from it, changing back into her Ranger form before she ran into any civilians. She approached cautiously as a group of firemen desperately tried to extinguish the blaze. Alura ran up to a man who was wearing full firemen gear and had a big mustache. He turned to Alura and sighed with relief.

"Thank god." He grasped Alura's shoulder in a manly sort of way. "Power Ranger, we could really use a hand."

A young man came up to them, covered in soot and with desperation in his eyes.

"Sarge!" he yelled above the noise of the fire. "There's still some people trapped on the fourth floor, but we can't get to them and the buildings about to collapse!"

Alura couldn't help thinking that she was supposed to be protecting the city from evil, not from fires, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

"You guys put out the fire if you can," said Alura in her male voice. "I'll get the people out!"

Without hesitation, she ran towards the building.

"Wait!" called the young firefighter. "There's something else!" But the Gold Ranger had already disappeared into the smoke.

"What is it?" asked the Sarge.

The young man turned to him, in an almost frightened way. "…This fire was caused by a monster…"

...

Climbing up the flaming stairs, she saw a line of firemen coming down them.

"Get out, Ranger, it's too dangerous! The building's about to collapse!"

"Get yourselves out!" Alura pushed past them, and continued up the stairwell.

She reached the third floor and was confronted with what appeared to be a flaming man. She panicked for a moment, but as she looked closer, it didn't appear to be a man, but a sort of demon. From its aggressive body language she could tell that it was a monster, its face contorted in a gleeful fury. Angry at the destruction the monster had caused, she produced a forcefield around it, compressing it until there was no air around it. The monsters flames went out almost immediately and it glared at her through the smoke. She kicked the monster and it went flying back into the wall behind it. Alura wasn't sure that it was fatally wounded, but she knew that it would probably be destroyed when the building came down.

She leapt up the stairwell, producing a protective field around herself as the heat intensified. As she landed on the fourth floor, there was a crash behind her, and she was the stairs cave in and the ceiling began to crumble. She dived out of the way, and part of the roof came down on what was left of the stairs. Looking back at it, she knew that there was no way that civilians could get back down that way. At least the monster wouldn't be able to come up there after them.

"Hello?" she yelled above the crackling flames as she waded through the burning mess that covered the floor. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Help us!" Alura ran towards the screaming and found its source.

"Can anyone hear me?" Alura could hear the muffled sound of a baby crying from behind a burning door.

"Help us, we're in here!"

"Stand back!" Alura kicked the door open, flames and wood exploding over her armour and forcefield as she ran to the civilians. They appeared to be a young family, a young man and womman huddled together in a corner, clutching a baby, and all their faces were sooty and tear streaked. They were obviously terrified. Alura rushed to them. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," said the man. But even as he spoke, the roof began to cave in, and flames burst through from the upper story. Acting quickly, Alura kicked at the outer wall of the building, smashing through the bricks with a power kick, revealing a 12 meter drop below.

"Hold tight!" she secured a forcefield around the family. She lifted the forcefield, and the family inside were lifted too. Moving with steady speed, Alura lowered the family into the arms of waiting firemen, and as soon as she was sure that they were clear of the building, she released them from the forcefield. They cried with relief as the firemen took them to safety with blankets and oxygen. The young fireman just stood watching Alura, waiting for her to come down.

Alura was just about to jump down herself (as it was an easy height for a Power Ranger to jump from), when suddenly she felt something grab her ankle, She swiveled around to see the fire monster on the floor, who was fully flaming and angry, and who began to pull her back into the building. It roared and released fire energy. The Gold Ranger produced a forcefield, not around herself, but around the burning building, containing the fire from spreading.

"No!" shouted the young fireman. "Don't do it!"

But it was too late. He saw the Gold Ranger dragged back into the burning inferno as the Gold warrior began to compress the forcefield, suppressing the air that the fire needed to burn. The building began to smolder as it collapsed, and most of the flames were extinguished by the falling building material. As the rubble lay still, the forcefield flickered, releasing smoke, but no flames into the sky of Angel Grove. It flickered on and off for several minutes, then disappeared completely. The Gold Ranger was nowhere to be seen.

**Ooh, what do you all think? Who is the young fireman? Is Alura alright? Find out next time, on Power Rangers Zeo! (Hehe, sorry, I just had to do that) **


	8. Chapter 8: A Red Return

**Hey everyone, sorry I havent uploaded for such a long time- schoolwork/homework is overtaking my life :/**

**Anyway, please review :)**

**Alura xx**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

The firemen approached the rubble cautiously, idly putting out embers and flames when they appeared. The young fireman grabbed a fire hose and trumped through the rubble. As the smoke began to clear, he saw a large flame in the middle of the rubble. He put the water onto it, blasting it with the fire hose and the high pressure water, when the flames screamed at him.

The monster emerged and roared towards him, appearing to have its hands outstretched. The fireman was determined not to be beaten, even though his colleges almost scattered as the monster approached. He turned up the pressure on the hose, and blasted the creature. The creature slowed and stopped as it was just about to reach him. The fireman kicked the fire demon and it disintegrated, bursting into a cloud of ash. The other firemen yelled out words of praise to him, but they were too busy to congratulate him fully.

Meanwhile, at the command centre, Zordon had called in Billy and Ninjor, who were watching the unfolding events on the viewing globe. Billy was almost angry at Zordon for calling him in and making him feel so helpless. Now he finally understood what Tommy must have felt when he lost his Green Ranger powers. Now, more than ever, Billy wished that he was an active Ranger again. He was actually close to tears as they watched the firemen work.

"She didn't teleport out, Zordon," said Alpha. "Her position hasn't moved from the building. If she had teleported, she might have taken the fire monster with her. Aiyayayai!"

"Don't worry, Billy." Billy jumped at suddenly hearing Ninjor's voice. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

The firemen quickly put out the remaining fires, trying to remain calm. But they all felt responsible for what had happened, and they all had the same lingering question. Where was the Gold Ranger? Once all the fires were out, the men with the fire hoses retreated and the others began to work through the rubble, looking for someone, anyone. The young fireman threw his hose down and cautiously made his way to where the fire monster had emerged from. Sorting through the rubble desperately, Billy watched him closely on the viewing globe.

"Alpha, zoom in on that fireman."

Alpha toggled with a joystick, moving the camera in so that they could see the young man's face. Billy practically fainted when he saw who it was.

"Who is that?" Ninjor questioned, fiddling with his sword.

Billy smiled. "It's hope." The tiny glimmer of hope that all Rangers live for was back in Billy once again.

The fire man stopped suddenly as he uncovered a gloved hand. He felt for a pulse. It was there, but fairly weak. He quickly uncovered the Gold Rangers head and shoulders. The Ranger was lying on her front under a large amount of broken glass and smouldering mess, just as if she was a part of the rubble itself. The young man shook the Ranger gently, aware of causing further damage.

"Ranger, can you hear me?"

The Gold Ranger suddenly inhaled sharply, making the young man jump. She moved her head and arms slightly as the man continued to uncover the rest of her from the rubble. He gently flipped her over onto her back, clearing a sort of clean spot around her in the debris.

"Sarge!" he called, waving his hands around. "Over here!"

As the Sarge waded through the rubble, making his way over gradually, Alura's vision focused on the young man. He looked somewhat familiar to her, but where..?

It suddenly dawned on her. She had seen this man's face on the Operation REDLESS list, and she had heard his voice many times before.

"J- Jason?"

Jason stopped and stared at her. Not only had the Gold Ranger just spoken in a female voice, she also knew his name.

"How do you know who I am?"

She went to sit up and tried to say something else, but she collapsed, blood coming from a large gash on her right leg, which had several pieces of glass and wooden splinters imbedded in it. The Sarge looked down on the Ranger.

"Jesus Christ!" exclaimed the Sarge. "Will he be alright, Jason?"

Jason quickly felt along Alura's neck and ribs. "I think that he'll be alright." said Jason. "Nothing's broken, but I don't like the look of that leg. It could get infected if that shrapnel isn't removed."

The Sarge nodded. "Gee, Jason, that paramedic course you did comes in real handy. I'll call an ambulance."

As the Sarge turned to go, he mumbled to himself. "I didn't know that Rangers could bleed…"

Jason stared at Alura as she breathed shallowly. He was extremely suspicious at this point, not sure whether to acknowledge him-… _her_ as a friend or foe. He had only been back in Angel Grove for a few days, and he hadn't heard anything about a Gold Zeo Ranger. This wasn't what he'd expected when he had volunteered with the fire department. He had been trying to find an average hero inside himself, not something Power Ranger related. He remembered back to Tommy as the sixth Ranger, and how evil he was. But even if this Ranger was evil, why would she save civilians? He also wasn't sure if she even was a Ranger. Her armour… it was so different. It hadn't stopped her from getting injured at all, except for the shoulder shield, which had probably stopped her from breaking her ribs and neck. It reminded him of Tommy's dragon shield, except that it was round, not triangular. She couldn't be human, Jason knew that much.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, just to break his trail of thought.

"I'll be okay…" her voice was barely a whisper. Jason was aware that she was probably under surveillance, therefore he was as well. She reached for her wrist, but found that her communicator was broken, probably from the impact of her fall. She could try teleporting with it, but that would prove dangerous. Her molecules could get scrambled, both because of her weakened state and the broken device.

"Don't teleport," said Jason. "I'll help you get out of here. I take it you'll need to go to the command centre?"

The Gold Ranger nodded. "I was hoping to avoid that…"

Jason pulled out a small first aid kit from his pocket, and got a pair of tweezers out. He started to remove shrapnel from her leg, quickly and efficiently. As soon as he had got most of it out, the Gold Ranger began to glow a solid gold colour. The rest of the shrapnel seemed to fall out by itself as the wound began to rapidly heal. It stopped bleeding, and then healed completely; leaving nothing, not even a scar. The material of the armour then seemed to pull itself back together too. She stood shakily with Jason's help. She seemed to be completely alright, just a bit shaky from the impact of the fall and the sudden events.

"Thanks, Jason," she spoke in her male voice again, much to Jason's confusion. "I'll be able to make my own way to the command centre. "

"You sure?" Jason helped through of the rubble, noticing that she didn't have a laser pistol of any kind with her, only a sword.

"You've been more than enough help tonight." She said as they finally landed on solid ground. "Besides," she said in a commanding yet gentle tone. "I would rather you didn't get mixed up in business that is no longer your own."

Jason just stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I am no one."

Ninjor rolled his eyes at Alura's secrecy. "Well," said Ninjor, stretching his arms upward. "I'm gonna head back to the temple." He whispered sideways to Billy. "I don't think she's very happy with me at the moment."

Billy smiled at his friends playful mannerisms. "See you round Ninjor."

Ninjor nodded to Zordon and Alpha before teleporting out.

Alura briefly nodded to the fire chief, who gave a confused grin and waved in her general direction. "Cancel that ambulance." He said to one of the other firemen.

She ran down an alley way away from the crowds, but Jason noticed that she was still limping on her injured leg.

"Wait…" he ran after her. "Wait!"

Alura continued to run, rounding the corners of a few blocks, trying to shake Jason so that she would be able to turn into the Dragon and fly away without him seeing. But her leg was slowing her down more than it should have been. She assumed that she was also weak because of the power that she had previously put into the force field. She turned to him, and he caught up with her, panting.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "You're not an earth Ranger. Why are you here and where are Tommy and the others?"

"Like I said," she was practically growling at him. "This sort of business is no longer yours." Alura hadn't really meant to be aggressive towards Jason, but she couldn't think of anything else at that moment that would get him to go.

She heard a cackle behind her, and Alura turned to see Rita. It was just Rita this time, no putties or Tengus or anything. Jason suddenly realized the mistake he had made by following her. He'd put himself in a dangerous situation, and Alura knew that she would now have to protect the defenceless Red warrior.

"Red Rangers are stubborn, aren't they, Gold One?" Rita was talking as if they were old friends who had just bumped into each other after years of not seeing one another.

"I hate it when you're right." Alura stood between Jason and Rita, ready to summon her own staff as she observed Rita's. "What do you want? And you'd better have a good reason this time."

"I've been thinking," Rita caressed her staff thoughtfully, putting Alura on edge. "If what you've told me is right, and all of the pieces of your story fit in with mine, I think we have a way we can end the conflict on this planet."

"I'm not going to like it, whatever your suggestion."

"You should join me."

"…No, I don't like it."

"Come on Gold one, it makes sense for you to join our forces."

"How? What could possibly make me want to join your side?"

Rita smiled evilly, and her eyes flashed. "Your haunted past, Ranger. Do you remember it? Your past is full of mistakes."

Alura narrowed her eyes. "We all make mistakes."

"Not like you…"

Rita's laughing caused Alura to remember. She remembered everything. And for the first time that she had been Rita's presence, she felt genuinely scared.

_**-flashback-**_

_The Gold Ranger, sparking with energy and anger, leapt onto the rooftops and leapt across them, picking up the Power tracking device as she went. But this time she wasn't after the Green Rangers signal. She set it to find something much larger than a human. Much larger. Stopping as the rooftops ran out, she panted hard, and angrily. She realized that she would only have a limited amount of time to do this. _

_She overlooked the water and the docklands. It was far too still, as if in anticipation of something. From the top of the building, she could see clearly where the signal was coming from. Before anyone could see her, she dived from the top of the building and landed in the water, barely creating a ripple on the water's surface. _

_She began to swim down as her eyes adjusted to the dark waters. Thankfully she was able to keep going without going back up for air, as her helmet provided her with oxygen. It got darker and darker as she went down, but she could see a sinister green glow getting brighter the deeper she went. And then she saw it. The Dragonzord was watching… and waiting._

_**-End flashback-**_

"You sub consciously wanted to join our side, Gold One, that's why you did it. You secretly long to be the God that you deserve to be. So why not join our side, and let these puny humans rot on this infested planet? You're too good to be around their vile ways. You can do so much better than them."

"You're wrong." Alura turned, Jason's voice snapping her out of her frightened trance. "For the record, I don't know what either of you are talking about, and I know that this Ranger may be many things, but evil is not one of them." He glared at Rita, pushing past Alura and standing defiantly in front of the witch. "This Ranger is not evil. How could he be? I've seen it with my own eyes. And trust me," he looked Rita up and down. "I know evil when I see it."

Rita smiled innocently and gave a small throaty laugh. "Jason… you haven't seen anything yet."

Her eyes flashed green as she summoned her own green Ranger energy. Jason sensed this immediately, not only because he saw it in her eyes, but because his own link with the Green Ranger Powers still remained after Tommy had given the power to him. But the power Rita was using wasn't the powers that he had used. These powers were completely evil, and nothing else.

Alura clutched her chest, the sudden arising of the powers affecting her own powers. The dragon threatened to overwhelm her, but she pushed it back. She was not letting the dragon get the better of her, not this time, not with Rita so close by.

Rita jabbed Jason in the gut with her staff and picked him up, throwing him over her shoulder and depositing him with a crunch on the concrete. Jason gasped as the air was knocked out of him and Rita put her staff to his throat.

"Join us, Gold one, or Red here dies."

"Come on Rita." The Gold Rangers grew deep and throaty. "They have a saying here on Earth." She summoned her own staff. "Children who play with fire get their fingers burned."

The Gold Ranger laughed, and it sent a chill down Jason's spine. It was the laugh of someone who was about to hurt someone and enjoy it. Little did Rita and Jason know, Alura was scaring herself half to death. She was managing to keep the Power within away, but only just. It raged in her head, like a fire which would not stop until it had destroyed all in its path. She suddenly understood how the firemen must have felt, trying to cease the spread of inevitable destruction.

The black of her armour began to be covered with some sort of aura. To both Jason and Rita's horror, it was not gold, but green.

"S- Stop…" Rita mumbled. "I swear I'll kill him…"

The Gold Ranger held out her weapon and began to run forward towards Rita. Jason, seeing a chance to get out of the way, began to wriggle out from under Rita's staff. The crescent moon shape of the staff cut his neck as he moved out. The Gold Ranger summoned energy and yelled as she collided with Rita. Light surrounded them and Jason had to cover his eyes from the unbearable brightness that was combined forces of light and dark.

As the light subsided, Jason saw Rita on the ground, her staff a safe distance away from her. She feebly held her hands up, as if surrendering or maybe protecting herself. The Gold Ranger held her own power staff at Rita's throat.

She stared into Rita's eyes, and Rita stared back, more out of stubborn fear than anything else. Slowly, the Gold Ranger lowered her staff.

"I'm not joining you because I know better." Her voice had returned to its normal masculine way. "I may have been regarded as a God by some of my own people," she offered Rita a hand to help her up. "But here I am regarded as no better than anyone else. Everyone here is equal, in one way or another. I'm not meant to be higher than anyone else here, and I won't join you because that is all you seek, and I've seen enough to know that it just isn't worth it."

Rita knocked her hand aside angrily. "You're crazy! You haven't seen these humans for what they really are. That sort of thinking will get you killed on this planet."

"Maybe," said Alura. "Maybe you have not seen what lies below the surface, Rita. On the outside, these humans are pathetic, emotional and powerless." Alura's voice softened a little, but still retained its passive tone. "But inside, they hold more power than any of us. The power of hope and friendship and love." The Gold Ranger leaned in close to Rita. "And that is why you will lose. You have none of that within; you only have what is on the outside." Alura turned her back to Rita. "You're a shell, Rita Repulsa. You, and Zedd, and Mondo and the entire United Alliance of Evil. Your all part of the same emptiness and you will all share the same hollow fate."

Rita slowly dragged herself to her feet and grabbed her staff. She shakily pointed it at Alura who turned back to her.

"Forget it." Alura walked towards Rita, showing no fear and little aggression. "I drained the remainder of your green powers from you. And in your state, I wouldn't use any magic at the moment if I were you."

Rita breathed heavily. Alura had never seen so much hatred and defeat in one person's eyes.

"Tell your 'Zeddy' that I said hi." Alura's voice became slightly predator like. "And if I see you down here again… I won't be as nice as I was this time."

Rita was about to make a half-hearted retort, but instead was picked up by a teleportation beam and carried away. Alura's power staff disappeared, and she and Jason were once again alone in the alleyway.

She breathed out heavily. That was a tough confrontation, even for one so experienced at lecturing enemies like herself.

"You alright, Jason?"

"Uh… I don't think so."

Alura suddenly whirled around to see Jason covering his neck with his hand, but she could see that he was obviously badly hurt. Blood seeped through his fingers, and his breathing was raspy. His cut was deeper than she had thought.

"Oh, shit!" Alura cursed at her own foolishness. She had actually forgotten about Jason. She reminded herself that she should get some sort of punishment for that later. "Jason I'm so sorry!" He was losing a lot of blood, and Alura suspected he'd been cut near a major artery. She ripped off one of his sleeves of his shirt and wound it tightly around his neck, but not so that It would choke him.

"Hey… my shirt…"

"I'll get you a new one."

Alura considered her options and she had no other choice.

"Jason, you're coming to the command centre with me."

"But… we can teleport…"

"Even if we could you wouldn't survive it. You're just going to have to trust me."

Jason nodded.

"Climb on my back."

Jason's eyes widened. "I'm- I'm sorry?"

"It'll make sense, and don't be scared. Climb on my back."

Jason closed his eyes for a second, out of pain and confusion, but when he opened them again, he didn't see the Gold Ranger, he saw a dragon. He gasped and moved away from it, but found himself to dizzy to move very far.

_It's okay, Jason. It's me._

The Dragon stared at him, and Jason heard a female voice in his head.

_Please, climb on my back; I'll take you to the command centre._

"What are you?"

_I'll explain everything to you soon. Please._

Jason slowly stood, and painfully got on the dragons back, mounting its back and wrapping his strong arms around the dragon.

_Hold on._

The Dragon took off, and they began to fly.


	9. Chapter 9: Old beginnings

**Hiya everyone! I thought I'd upload another chapter today because I spent the entire day yesterday dressed as a Blue Power Ranger for the school Athletics Carnival. We have a part called the Spirit Cup, which I guess is like a Cheerleader competition for those of you who are American, and we did 'Riley Rangers' for that, which involved myself and three other people dressing up as power rangers and leading the house. And, with the might of the Power Rangers... we won! Yay! Okay, you probably dont know what I'm talking about... anyway, on with the story! Please review :)**

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><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

Alura could feel Jason's breath against her scaly shoulder as they flew. As soon as they had cleared the city, she began to fly at a lower altitude, trying to keep Jason at a warmer temperature. At one point Jason began to slip, and Alura had to whirl around and grab him before he fell, so she decided to fly on her back, holding him against her underbelly, for the rest of the way. It took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the command centre, and when they got there, Billy was standing near the outside entrance, arms crossed. Alura gently set Jason down, and Jason stood clutching his neck.

"Good to see you Billy." He managed to say, looking stronger than he felt.

"I wish I could say the same to you, Jase." Billy marched right up to the Dragon and punched it hard across the face. The dragons head snapped to the side as he hit.

"Billy!" Jason was horrified at Billy's anger.

"What did you think you were doing?" Billy screamed at the Dragon. "You're dangerous! Get away from him!" Billy helped Jason away from the dragon. "You stupid… utter… moron! Go away! GO!" Billy swiped at the Dragon. "We have Zordon here so that we obey the rules that protect civilians as well as ourselves! You have nothing! You're the shell here! Go away! We'll all be safer without you here!"

The Dragon form melted away, like leaves in a breeze, and the Gold Ranger stood there. "…That's what I've been trying to tell you since I got here…"

They stood in silence for a second, Billy panting loudly from his outburst and shaking with anger.

"…I wish that you'd never come."

Billy spoke with utter hatred, and that hurt Alura more than anything. He helped Jason inside a door, but Alura just sat down outside. She didn't feel that she deserved to go in.

She sat with her back against the command centre and looked up at the night sky. She powered down, knowing that enemies wouldn't be able to use surveillance around here. She upturned her palm, resting her arm on her knee, and produced a small dark cloud, which began to rain, gently covering her hand with water.

She stared at the cloud. _You're the shell, _he had said. _I wish that you'd never come._ Alura saw her sorry reflection in the water. She could feel a bruise forming on her cheek where Billy had hit her. She felt anger, then disgust, and then emptiness and the cloud began to rain red, covering her hand in red liquid that mingled and then replaced the water.

Half an hour later Billy came out. Alura's little cloud had stopped raining, and was simply hovering above her hand. Billy swiped at it angrily, the cloud evaporating at his touch. He sat angrily next to Alura, avoiding her eye contact.

"How's your cheek?" he asked, but Alura could tell that he didn't really care.

"Fine," she replied. "…How's Jason?"

Billy was silent for a moment. "He's lost too much blood… and it's too late for a transfusion. He… won't make it to morning." Alura looked at Billy, and he finally brought himself to look back at her. He was crying, his eyes red from trying to hold it back. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "He's asking for you."

Alura nodded. "Am I allowed to go to him?"

"I couldn't exactly stop you if you wanted to see him."

Alura decided Billy didn't want to talk, so she went in without another word. She found Jason in the first aid room, and she also found that Zordon and Alpha were in other parts of the command centre, giving them privacy. She sat gently on the bed beside Jason, and she took his hand. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at her.

"…You… you must be an angel."

"I'm not."

"Have you… come to take me away?"

Alura saddened at the question. "No."

Jason seemed confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Gold Ranger."

"No… I meant… who are you, really?"

"I'm no one."

Jason squeezed her hand a little. "I've never met anyone who was a no one." Alura smiled slightly. "What's your name, angel?"

She hesitated. Surely she could tell him. "Alura."

"It's very nice to meet you… Alura."

Jason almost closed his eyes, but he forced them open again. "I know I'm not going to make it. I've done enough in my life to know when it's the end…"

Sheer determination passed over Alura's face. "The end is only the beginning, Jason." She stood and began rummaging through the drawers.

"What are you doing, angel?"

"I'm going to fix you, Jason. Too many people have died, and I'm not going to allow another death."

She started to fix her communicator with various pieces of junk that she had found in the drawers. To Jason's surprise, she had it fixed and operational in a couple of minutes. She teleported out, and then almost instantly teleported back in, holding two pale objects that resembled wristbands with some sort of circles attached. They resembled Morphers, Zeonisers, again to Jason's surprise, except they had no colour.

She put one on Jason's wrist. "Here," she said. "We don't have a lot of time."

She ran outside and threw one to Billy. He caught it, and then stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

Alura gestured for him to come inside. "I'm making things right. You and Jason need communicators, if you have any spare."

Billy fished two spares out of a drawer as he went back into the first aid room.

"Tommy, come in."

"We read you, Gold Ranger." Tommy's voice came over her communicator.

"Meet us at the entrance to the cave on Aquitar," said Alura. "We'll teleport to your signal."

"What's going on? Who's coming with you?"

"Billy and Jason."

"Jason? What-"

"Please, Tommy, I'll explain when we get there; we don't have a lot of time."

Alura sensed hesitation from Tommy. "…Okay, we're standing by to receive you."

"Gold Ranger, why are we wearing these?" Billy gestured to the colourless Morphers, as if they were an insult to them.

"Please, just keep them on. They'll save Jason's life."

"And why are we going to Aquitar? Jason is in no condition to teleport." Billy was getting angry again.

Alura stopped. "Your right… we'll have to take the pyramid."

After a small argument with Billy, Alura summoned the Pyramid, and they all clambered into the hatch. Despite being angry and supporting Jason, Billy couldn't help gazing in wonder at the interior. It was gold on the inside too, and there were several doors leading to strange rooms, as well as ladders that lead up and down, and lots of electronics that lined the walls.

"Locking on to Aquitar."

Alura morphed and began pressing buttons. Billy was almost amazed that she knew how to control this craft so well. There were thousands of buttons lain out before her, yet she seemed to know what each individual button did. Billy didn't remember the Zords being as complicated to control. The pyramid took off, but it didn't fly anywhere. Instead it shuddered, and then became surrounded by a blinding light. Billy had been looking out of the cockpit windscreen, but had to close his eyes as the light became blinding.

As the light subsided, the scenery out the windscreen had changed. They appeared to be in a large dark cavern, and they could see the Zeo and the Aquitar Rangers morphed and staring at them in surprise.

"What did you do?" Billy was still supporting Jason.

"The Pyramid has a teleport inhibitor, meaning that anyone inside will not feel the effects of teleport."

"Cool…" said Jason, before collapsing. Billy grabbed him as he fell, and Alura quickly checked for a pulse. It was there, but very weak. Tommy opened the hatch and fell into the pyramid, not anticipating the drop.

"What happened?" he asked, recovering and rushing to Jason's side. Alura didn't wait to answer him. She trusted that Billy would be doing that anyway. She jumped from the hatch and landed swiftly in front of the rest of the Zeo Rangers and the Aquitar Rangers.

There were mixed reactions to her presence. The Zeo Rangers seemed happy or relieved that she was here, but then again they didn't know the whole situation.

"You!" All five Aquitian Rangers immediately drew their weapons and aimed them at her. She drew her own sword, but then threw it to the ground, facing the swords and blasters unarmed.

"I'm not here to fight you," she said, switching to her male voice. "I come on terms of peace."

"That's likely," said the Blue Ranger, Cestro in disgust. "That is exactly what you said last time, and looked what happened."

"I do not come for myself. I come for the sake of Jason, Mighty Morphin Red Ranger. He will die if you stop me from entering the cave."

"You don't need to go in; we have the healing ice sword here."

"The ice sword will be useless for healing him, because he no longer has a connection to the Morphin grid. You know that is not what I seek."

"Gold One, we cannot allow you entry."

The Aquitians moved between her and the entrance of the cave.

"Don't make me fight you."

"Okay, everyone stop!" Tommy barrelled past her and stood between Alura and the Aquitians. "Whatever happened here in the past doesn't matter. What matters now is saving Jason. You need to all put these differences aside for the moment, and concentrate on our task."

The Alien Rangers hesitated, and then lowered their weapons. The Zeo Rangers began to walk back into the cave with the Aliens, supporting Jason between them.

Tommy stopped Alura, shoving her roughly in the shoulder. "You. You're going to explain everything when we get back to earth."

Alura didn't say or do anything. She looked at him for a moment, and then walked past him into the cave, picking up and re holstering her sword as she went. The time had come. She had to tell them everything. Her game was up.

"Kat," whispered Tanya as they went deeper into the cave. "Who's Jason?"

"He was the original Red Ranger. Tommy told me about him." Kat whispered back.

"Yeah," said Rocky. "He was the one that I replaced as Red Ranger."

"He's a good fighter." Adam whispered. "But he hasn't been a Ranger for a few years. What's he doing here, and in that condition?"

"Good question." Tommy glanced at the Gold Ranger who continued to walk in silence.

Tommy made his way over to walk with Aurico. Aurico still had his weapon drawn, and Tommy could tell that he was tense.

"Aurico, what else is in this cave?"

"It has been said that many years ago, two sources of great power were put in this cave."

"Being the ice sword and something else?"

"No, there are two other sources of power as well as the ice sword."

"But, what?"

"It was said that there were three Rangers of Aerovillia. One controlled lightening," Aurico glanced at the Gold Ranger. "The other two controlled ice and flame. There was a battle, and the ice and flame warriors were lost, and the lightening warrior stored their powers in a safe location, until two warriors were chosen to use these powers once again."

"But that's a Gold Ranger, not a lightening warrior."

"No one's called me lightening warrior for a very long time." Alura said. "I am the Gold Ranger. The other ones were that of the Silver Ranger and the Crimson Ranger. The names which you hear are the powers we use, not our colours. Didn't you ever wonder why I can summon electricity?"

Tommy and Aurico glanced at each other.

"The Gold Ranger of three generations back fought alongside these other two Rangers." Alura stopped for a second, and then continued. "They were killed in battle against the United Alliance of Evil."

"Wait," Billy stopped, Jason stopping with him, even though Jason felt compelled to keep walking. "You're going to make Jason and me active Rangers again?"

Alura nodded. "I know that you don't really want the power again Billy, but I have several reasons for doing this. One, these powers will save Jason's life. Two, I can't give one of these powers without giving the other. They are a pair, and that's why you are both only wearing one Zeoniser each, unlike the other Rangers who have two Zeonisers each. Third, I'm leaving, and you'll need the extra muscle power on your side."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Rocky sounded shocked. "Why?"

"Billy asked me to go. And I said that if you didn't want me to stay, then I would go."

Tommy put a hand on her shouldershield. "We haven't discussed this properly."

"It's not up for discussion." She shrugged his hand off.

"But, where will you go?"

"Away from Earth." Billy glanced at Jason, who would have been staring back at him angrily if he wasn't feeling so weak.

She stopped suddenly as the cavern came to a dead end.

"So, where are these powers?" Delphine seemed both tense and unimpressed.

Alura placed a hand on the cavern wall, feeling along its surface.

"They're here. We've reached the blood zone."

Alura kicked at the rock wall and it caved in to reveal a dark cavern. The cavern wall and floors were covered in crimson patches. The other Rangers shuddered at the sight, but Alura seemed to have little or no reaction to it.

"Billy, Jason," she gestured for them to come forward. "I'm afraid everyone else will have to wait here. It's called the blood zone for a reason."

Tommy tensed, reluctant to let Jason go into such a place when he was that close to death. But he knew that he couldn't stop them if Jason was going to get better.

The Gold Ranger and Billy helped Jason into the darkness. The Aquitians tensed further, powerless to stop them as they disappeared into potential danger. Tommy stared worriedly into the darkness.

"Aurico, you've got to tell us what happened here. I've never seen you guys so tense!" Tommy tore his gaze from the darkness and focused on his fellow Red Ranger.

Aurico didn't take his eyes away from the dark. "The Gold Ranger came here once before, a few years ago. Except… he seemed sort of power hungry. He was possessed or something. It was like nothing could stop him, not even us. He was the only one who we had heard of making it to the blood zone. Fortunately he wasn't able to get in."

"Are you sure it was this Ranger? How do you know that this isn't a different one?"

"Trust me, Thomas. It's the same one."

There was a growling sound, and Tommy turned his attention back to the cavern. They could hear sounds of a sword fight. Tommy drew his weapon, but Aurico held him back. The Rangers stood there for at least ten minutes, listening, and helpless to do anything. They heard a massive thump, as if something big hit the ground.

As Tommy squinted, trying to look into the cavern, there was a sudden blinding light, and everyone covered their eyes.

Tommy was suddenly thrown to the ground as something dived on him. He dropped his weapon as he struggled for breath. He heard hysterical laughing in his ear, and he realized that there was a Ranger hugging him. As he gently tried to pry the Ranger away, he realized that it wasn't a Zeo or Alien Ranger. The new Ranger had crimson armour, which looked even a little bit metallic, and a white semicircle similar to the Zeo Rangers' across its chest. The helmet, however, was fairly plain, like the Gold Rangers, except it was Crimson, and the visor looked like it had flames running across the top of it that spiked outwards at the corners.

"Bro!" exclaimed the Crimson Ranger. Tommy stared, bewildered, until everything finally fell into place.

"Jason?" he laughed and hugged him back. "You're okay!"

There were cheers from the other Rangers as a Silver Ranger emerged, with armour similar to the Crimson Rangers'. "Sources indicate that I am now an active Ranger again!"

The rest of the Zeo Rangers dived on the Silver Ranger as they recognized him as Billy. Amidst this happy chaos, the Gold Ranger emerged, her sword covered in blood. She nodded the Aquitian Rangers, and, without another word, they nodded back.

_Thank you._

The words came to their minds simultaneously as the Gold Ranger re holstered her sword.

"Wow, what happened in there?" Tommy noticed her sword as he finally managed to stand and Jason proceeded to hug the other Rangers.

"Bro, you wouldn't believe it! There was this huge wolf thing, like a guard dog, and he defeated it."

Alura didn't react, not sure if the statement was meant as a compliment or not.

At that moment, Cestro's communicator went off. The Aquitians turned and spoke into it, using an alien tongue that the Earth Rangers didn't understand a word of, even though Alura understood a little.

"I'm sorry, Rangers. We have urgent business to attend to. We must leave."

"Thank you guys for all your help." Tommy shook hands with Aurico and Delphine. "May the Power protect you."

The Aquitians nodded and regrouped. "Power protect you." They teleported away, leaving the other Rangers alone in the massive cavern. They turned to Billy and Jason, looking closer at their armour.

"Whoa," said Jason as he drew his weapon. It looked like a sword with a crimson handle, but when held on an angle it resembled a gun. "What is this thing?"

Billy drew his sword, and it was the same, only with a silver handle.

"I wouldn't fire it," said Alura. "They're called _ignis swords_. You'd betterask Zordon about them before you use them."

"Alright, guys. We'd better get back to Earth." Tommy checked his watch, which he had strapped on next to his communicator. "It's 2AM, Saturday morning, which gives you plenty of time to explain everything before we have to get home."

Alura nodded. "I'll meet you at the command centre; I've got to put the pyramid in a safe place first."

"You have half an hour. Make sure that your there."

Tommy felt he was being a little harsh, but he'd had enough of the Gold Rangers secrets. He and the other Rangers teleported out, but Jason lingered behind.

"Aren't you going, Jason?"

"I just wanted to say," he started. "Thank you. For saving my life."

Alura was sure that if she could have seen his face it would have had a smile all over it. "Angel."

Alura smiled at this, before Jason teleported out.

* * *

><p>Ninjor was waiting at the temple entrance when Alura teleported the Pyramid back there. She knew that it would be safe here for the time being. She climbed out and powered down.<p>

"What happened?" Ninjor's voice had little tone to it.

"Rita," said Alura as she walked to Ninjor. "That BITCH. She injured Jason, and I had to give him and Billy the 'Three Rangers' powers."

"Well, you didn't have to, not unless-"Ninjor looked at her sharply. "You're planning to leave?"

"I have to Ninjor. I'm telling them everything, and then I'm going." She looked at her feet. "I'd like you to come to the command centre. You deserve to hear it too."

Ninjor crossed his arms. "There's no way that you're going to tell them everything. I know you too well."

Alura smiled slightly. "Okay, you're right." She handed him a small red cube on a chain. "Guard this with your life, Ninjor. It contains everything I know about the Alliances plans, including all of the information on Operation REDLESS. If I… If something happens to me, you should give that information to Zordon. He'll know what to do."

Ninjor nodded solemnly. "I'll guard it with my life, Alura." He raised a fist in a small way. "Never fear… Ninjor's here."

She went to shake his hand, but Ninjor pulled her into a much needed hug instead.

"Thank you."


	10. Chapter 10: Answers

**My goodness, I'm so sorry I havent updated this for ages! I'm so sorry! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favourited, story alerted etc. its always very much appreciated :) please review :P**

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

Alura and Ninjor teleported to the command centre, where the Rangers were waiting for them, all seven of them de morphed. Alura felt more vulnerable in a way, also being de morphed. They all noticed a bruise forming on her cheek, but Alura didn't intend to tell them that Billy had caused it. Ninjor was angry enough when he found out, and she didn't want Billy to get into any trouble.

"Alright, Ranger." Said Tommy, leaning against a bench, his arms folded. "Start from the beginning. Tell us everything we want to know, cos we want answers. This last month has been absolutely crazy, and I want to know why."

"Yeah," agreed Jason. "In the space of about three hours, I've fought a fire monster and Rita, almost died, and become a Ranger again. So, it would be good to know why."

The other Rangers gathered around, all of them with their arms crossed except for Kat and Jason.

"You might want to sit down." She started. "It's… sort of a long story. A very long story."

Rocky was the first one to sit on the floor and make himself comfortable. The others glanced at each other, and then sat down as well. Alura sat with her back against a cupboard, having to remove the large sword she carried on her de morphed back. She set it down next to Ninjor, who was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed at strange angles, as if meditating.

"I guess it started with the Gold Ranger of three generations back. The Lightening Warrior if you like. After the defeat of the Ice and Flame warriors, this Ranger was angry. He became so destructive, that he began to wipe out whole civilizations, trying to gain more power. He had to be stopped, and so he was killed by the most unlikely person to defeat him. His daughter."

The Rangers glanced at each other.

"This female was sensible though. She didn't use the Ranger powers that she acquired. She kept them hidden, out of use, but storing them in her body took its toll. The woman eventually had a baby… which killed her upon delivery from complications."

"This baby was you." Billy chipped in quietly, and Alura nodded, confirming his suspicions.

"She was my Mother. She gave her life to save me before she even knew me. You see, once a person is connected with the Gold Ranger powers, it becomes their life force, much in the same way your powers are linked to your life force. Except in my case, my powers are my life force. I was a weak baby, I should have died at birth, but my mother gave me the powers to keep me alive."

"This is indeed disturbing news, Gold Ranger," said Zordon. "Powers as life force do not last very long on this planet."

"This is why my powers have been fluctuating."

"But," Rocky interrupted. "Zordon said that you had a secondary power source as well."

"I'm getting to that." Alura sighed. "Anyway, here I was, a girl with these powers, practically born with them. My Father was a kind man, and he trained me to control them and use them for good. I grew to the age of fourteen, which was when it all really started. I began to sense power arriving on this planet, both good and bad."

"Rita and the Mighty Morphin team?" Asked Jason, trying to get his head around everything that she had just said. Alura nodded.

"I sensed especially the Green Ranger Powers, as they were evil, and my own powers had its roots in evil."

Everyone looked at Tommy, who continued to stare at Alura, stone faced.

"I knew that, if these powers were given to a powerful recipient, then the Earth would fall."

"Then why didn't you help me?" Tommy clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening.

"I did, Thomas Oliver." Alura seemed sad and angry at the same time. "You have no idea how much I did. I travelled to Earth the moment I sensed the green power coin was going to be used. I knew that the powers were linked with the dragon, and that made them especially dangerous. I tracked your signal, but I was too late to stop you from being chosen. I was so close to saving you, but Rita teleported you away before I could stop her."

"So, how exactly was that helping me?" Tommy was so close to getting up and punching something at that moment. "I suffered for weeks under that spell. Weeks, and you knew about it, and you did nothing to help me!"

"Trust me, Thomas. I did more than you think." She looked at Jason. "I couldn't stop you from being evil; it was up to the Power Rangers to break that spell. Instead, I protected the rest of the world from you."

"YOU protected the world from ME?" Tommy almost laughed. "I find that hard to believe."

Alura raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really? Do you remember the first time you used your Zord, Thomas?"

Tommy froze.

"It had certain reluctance to being used by you, didn't it? Just for a second, but it was still there."

"…How did you know that? I never told anyone, not even Rita."

"I tampered with your Zord Tommy. The Green Ranger powers were evil; your Zord was run by the Green Ranger powers. Therefore, your Zord was evil. Even if the spell on you was broken, your Dragonzord would still have been evil and wreaked havoc on Angel Grove, and the world. It was only evil at that time because you told it to be. It was immediately good after you turned good, wasn't it?"

Tommy had broken into a cold sweat.

"It's true." Jason and Billy nodded to each other.

"Before the Dragonzord could be used, I swam down to it in the water, and I absorbed every single bit of its evil powers."

"You what?" They Rangers shouted simultaneously.

"This in turn," continued Alura, "made me evil. I spent three days at the bottom of the ocean, trying to shake it. But I couldn't." Alura looked down. "I was eventually able to push the evil away from my persona, preventing it from taking me over entirely. But this created a new aggressive personality. The one that introduced itself to you as the power within."

The Rangers shook their heads in shocked bewilderment. Tommy remained still.

"After this, the Power within took over for a while. I was too weak to stop it at that time. That was when I went to Aquitar, and tried to take the Aerovil powers. The Aquitian Rangers were able to stop me before I could get to them, but then the Power Within then set its target on something else. I came back to earth, and I tried to take the Mighty Morphin powers."

"But, you didn't, because I stopped you." Ninjor stretched his arms up. "And that was no easy task."

"Ninjor had me sedated for a number of weeks," explained Alura. "And in that time I developed a link with you Tommy, much in the same way you were linked to Rita through these powers."

"But-"

"You wouldn't have been aware of it though. It was a very subtle connection, but enough for the Power within to be aware of your emotions. I felt every time you were in pain, every time you were hurt psychologically. And I tried to help you guys out. I really did. Ninjor helped me to put up the forcefield."

Jason threw Billy a look. He mouthed the word "Forcefield?" at him.

Billy waved a dismissive hand. "I'll explain later," He mouthed back.

"And you lost your powers, Tommy. The link grew weaker, but it wasn't gone. And when you got your powers back, I tried to help you against Zedd. But I was called back to defend my own planet."

"And then you lost the link completely when I lost my powers again." Tommy finished.

Alura nodded. "I couldn't feel the connection, even though I still had the power within."

Alura hesitated. Ninjor stiffened as he knew that at this point in her life was when she had broken into the Alliances headquarters, but she wasn't going to tell them that.

"Then a few years passed, and I had come back to visit Ninjor, when I heard you guys getting attacked by Wolfbane. By that point, there was nothing that I could do to stop myself being revealed. After all, Mondo had already discovered my Pyramid entering the atmosphere. After that, I tried to leave, but you guys kept getting attacked, and I couldn't just leave you." Alura looked down, her brown hair falling down around her face.

"So, my planet had developed more turmoil while I was gone, and the Alliance noticed this. They attacked me while I was vulnerable, and destroyed my planet."

"But why did you come back to Earth?"

Because this was the Alliances next target, she thought.

"I came here because I knew someone here."

Ninjor raised his hand for a high-five, but lowered it again when he saw no one was going to high-five him back.

"And you know my story from there." She hesitated. "Jason, I'm sorry we ran into Rita, but I had to go into that building. I could hear that child crying, and I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

Jason nodded. "I... I think I would have done the same thing."

The Rangers stayed sitting, as if absorbing the information.

"That doesn't explain why you were being so secretive." Tommy still had his arms folded, looking stern and rather unsatisfied with the tale.

Alura sighed. "Life itself is short, but it is made longer by misfortunes. I have lived a long life, and I do not wish for anyone to share my misfortunes."

"No, that's not it." Everyone stared at Tommy, shocked that he was continuing the conversation like he was. "I told you to tell us everything. The Alliance came after you, for your powers." Billy began to see where Tommy was going with this. "You said that your Mother gave you the powers so that you could live, so that means that your powers are your life force. And we know that you 'take someone's life force' if you kill them. So that means that, if someone kills you… they get your powers."

The Rangers held their breath as they waited for Alura to respond. Slowly she looked back up and nodded regretfully. Tommy was genuinely shocked to see fear in her eyes, and it almost sickened him that he had caused it.

"You've seen my power." She said. "I try to fight for the side of good, but somehow, bad things always seem to happen around me. Imagine what would happen if the Gold Ranger power went to someone evil."

They were silent, even Zordon, in contemplation.

Kat broke the silence. "What's your name?" Tanya looked over to her, surprised that her generally quiet friend had spoken.

"...Alura."

Kat smiled slightly, glad and slightly impressed that she had got such a straight answer. "What's your last name?"

"Um… I don't have one."

"You can go, Alura." Tommy stood, his face as hard as stone.

Alura knew that Tommy didn't want her here. She stood and went to teleport.

"Wait!" Billy stood. "I'd… like to run a diagnostic on your powers. Maybe I can help them stabilize."

"Thank you, Billy. But that won't be necessary. I don't plan to remain here long enough for them to fluctuate further."

She morphed, momentarily covering the walls of the command centre in gold light.

"Cut the fancy crap." Tommy said angrily. "Just go!"

She teleported out instantly, leaving Ninjor and the seven remaining Rangers in the command centre. Jason shoved Tommy roughly.

"Why did you do that, bro?" he almost shouted. "I wasn't done asking her stuff."

The other Rangers gathered around and began to argue.

"Rangers," said Zordon. "This is no time to argue." But the teens with attitude weren't listening.

A loud crash from behind them made them stop. They turned to see that Ninjor had slammed his fist down on a metal bench, leaving a deep fist shaped mark in it.

"I thought that you were all better than this." He scowled, picking up Alura's large sword and gripping it tightly. "After all that she's been through, everything that she has done for you, you couldn't even thank her!" Ninjor lowered his head aggressively, fixing his eyes on them. "You don't deserve her help."

He took an aggressive step towards Billy, obviously restraining himself from striking the Silver Ranger. "How dare you strike her?" Billy looked at his feet, ashamed that he had hit someone out of anger, especially a girl.

Ninjor, maintaining his aggression, pointed the sword at Tommy, who stared back. "And you, Dragon Warrior. I would never have given you the White Ninjetti powers if I'd known that you would treat her like this! You should go back and work for Rita, that would suit you better!"

Ninjor teleported out in an angry burst of flame, leaving the Rangers in a trance of stunned silence.

"Tommy," boomed Zordon, looking down on him angrily from his energy tube. "This display of irrational behaviour is unlike you."

"If you've got a problem, call my lawyer." Tommy huffed. "She deserved it."

"No, she didn't!" shouted Rocky.

"No one deserves that!" Adam spoke up.

"What's wrong with you?" agreed Tanya.

"You guys wouldn't understand! You don't know what I went through!" Tommy almost screamed at them. "I had weeks of fighting constantly against that spell, and she didn't do anything to help. I thought I was alone! I don't want to be alone!"

Tommy's final sentence echoed around the command centre. He felt a single tear fall from his eye as he ran out.

"I got this." Jason left the Zeo Rangers with Zordon and followed Tommy out into the night.

...

"Tommy, wait!"

Tommy stormed stubbornly across the desert in the direction of Angel Grove. "Go home Jase! I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't bullshit me Tommy!" Tommy whirled around at this.

"How dare you Jason! Don't barge back into my life like this!"

"You said that you don't want to be alone, so I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!"

"What does it matter? I'll always be alone. I have no parents, no real family. Heck, I couldn't even keep a stable relationship with Kimberly! I'll always be alone! No one cares."

"That's not true Tommy! I care about you, your friends care about you, Zordon cares about you, and Alura cares about you!"

Tommy and Jason breathed heavily, their faces twisted in rage. Tommy sat heavily in the sand, bringing his knees to his chest.

"For what it's worth," Jason sat beside him. "I think of you as a brother."

Tommy nodded. "I know."

They looked across the desert together, and then up at the sky. "I wonder which one of those stars she comes from."

Jason turned his attention back to Tommy. "Listen, bro, I feel really bad that this is happening to you while you're the Red Ranger. I know that it can be tough being leader and I wish that I could take some of your pain, but I can't unless you tell me what's going on."

Tommy glanced at Jason.

"Come on, Tommy, I know you too well. What's going on?"

Tommy looked at the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"I just… I just can't believe that someone like her couldn't have stopped my pain sooner. She had the power to do it."

"But she said that Ninjor had her sedated for weeks after the Dragonzord incident, she couldn't have. Even if she could have, it would have cost her a lot, her identity, her power resources, and possibly her life. And she was right, only we could have broken your spell. Besides," Jason said, "I'm sure that she felt every moment of your suffering."

"I wonder what she feels like when the power within takes over her?"

"She probably felt like you did under your spell. Maybe she's aware of what she's doing, and she can't stop it."

Tommy followed a different train of thought. "And when you got hurt, I was so angry with her…"

"Dude, that was more my fault than anyone else's. Besides, I'm sorta glad that it happened. It means that I can fight for the earth with my fists rather than words." Jason smiled a bit. "We all know that Power Rangers aren't very good with verbal negotiations."

They were silent as they contemplated this thought, both smiling to themselves for a moment. Tommy made the mistake of showing his inner emotions on his face, and when Jason looked at him he couldn't help keeping back a laugh.

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you… Y'know?" Jason raised his eyebrows at Tommy, who returned it with a look of confusion.

"Do I what?"

"Do you… like her?"

"I think she's a good fighter, and-"

"Nah, bro… I mean, do you 'like' like her?"

Tommy stared at Jason, wide eyed. "What?"

"That's why you're upset! Your still cross with her, but you don't actually want her to leave!" Jason punched him on the shoulder, and Tommy looked extra annoyed at him.

"Don't be stupid Jase!"

Jason was laughing, but stopped when he saw the look on Tommy's face. It was of regret and sadness, two emotions which Jason had hardly ever seen on his face at the one time.

"Sorry, bro."

"It's all good, man." Tommy lay down on the dirt and looked back up at the sky, his hands under his head. Jason joined him.

"I wonder where she'll go."

"Y'know… it's not too late, Tommy. I bet she hasn't left yet. You could-"

"No," Tommy cut him off. "I couldn't. Even if I did see her again… what would I say to her? I was so rude and selfish. And after all she's done for us-"

"Well, what's the opposite of rude and selfish?" said Jason. "Sorry and thank you. Come on, it's easy! All you have to do is find her, say sorry for being rude, and thank her for what she's done."

Tommy smiled, thinking that it sounded easy enough.

"And then ask her to stay."

Tommy sat bolt upright. "What?"

"Well, the rest of us don't want her to leave, and you don't really want her to leave, so why is she going?"

"She wouldn't stay on earth anyway."

"You'll never know if you never ask her."

Tommy sighed. "You're a born leader, aren't you, Jase?"

"I try my best."

Tommy lay back down, wiping a bit of dust from his eyes.

"Even if she did feel the same way… it would never work."

"Why not?"

Tommy raised his hands in an exasperated gesture. "Dude, she's an alien!"

Jason grinned.

"Bro, sometimes you've just got to believe in the impossible. If you don't dream it first, then how will it ever come true?"

Tommy glanced at him. "Someone's been paying attention in Philosophy."

"Nah, the UN taught me that." Jason grinned then sat up. "Well, why are you still here? Go get her, Tiger."

And there was yet another reason why Tommy was glad for Alura's help. She had bought his best mate back to the team.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hello everyone! I am sorry I havent updated for so long, I had... some other things that needed my attention. On with the story! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed favourited, or just read for fun! It is very much appreciated :)

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><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

The Gold Ranger stood at the hatch of the pyramid, the moonlight reflecting off her gold shoulder shield. Ninjor stood sadly on the ground looking up at her.

"Goodbye Ninjor."

Ninjor sighed. "Are you sure that this is goodbye?"

Alura nodded. "This planet was never meant to house someone like me. It's... It's best if I leave." Alura turned to go down the hatch.

"Where will you go?"

Alura stopped. "... I don't know."

She turned and ran back down the side of the pyramid, and embraced Ninjor in a rare display of affection from the wearied warrior. "Thank you for everything, old friend." He hugged her back, and she drew away and didn't look back. "Goodbye Ninjor."

"Wait!" There was the glow of a red teleportation beam, and Tommy appeared. Alura continued her climb back up to the hatch.

"You're too late Tommy." Ninjor growled, sounding as if he were about to cry. "You can't make her stay." Ninjor turned his head. "I can't even stop her."

"Wait, Alura!" Tommy shouted, and he scrambled up the side of the Pyramid after her."I don't want you to go!"

Alura whirled around. "And why not?! I've done every wrong possible to this planet. And to you! Why would you ever want me to stay?"

"I don't know." Tommy sighed. "I haven't been certain of a lot of things for a long time, and I don't have a reason for wanting certain things. But I know that I want you to stay."

"And what if _I_ don't want to stay?"

"But you do, don't you?" Tommy looked down. "You... don't have a home anymore. You have nowhere to return to. You would just go to another planet."

Alura stopped. "I suppose I would. I... I have to keep fighting, no matter what." She turned. "Is that what you would do, Tommy? If you had this power, you would keep fighting, wouldn't you?"

Tommy could tell that Alura was at a loss.

"Do you even know what you're fighting for, Gold Ranger?"Alura was silent. Tommy approached her gently. "Stay, and find out what you're fighting for."

"What do you mean?"

"Spend one day among civilians here. Lead a normal life, for just one day."

"I can't-"

"You can leave after that if you like. At least stay for a little longer."

Alura's body began to scream aggression towards Tommy. Well, maybe it wasn't meant for Tommy, but for the worlds around them that held no place for a lost warrior.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that could be? Me, as a civilian?!" Tommy took a step back from Alura. "It's beneath me."

"What right do you have to talk about above and beneath?" Tommy retorted. "You came here to help me, and you've done it like I'm some sort of deity to you! Yet I'm a civilian. What does that make me, Alura?"

Alura stared him down. "It makes you a fool."

"Then I'm a fool! And so are you, because neither of us has stopped fighting to protect those who are 'beneath us'." Tommy stepped forward. "Do you consider yourself a God or something?!"

"It wouldn't make me a better person if I was! Gods have power to help, to do good for those who ask for it!" Alura's helmet was angled down. "I'm... I'm just a monster."

Tommy sighed. "Listen, Alura. Jason told me what you said to Rita, about how you wouldn't join her because you know better, and because everyone here is equal." Tommy looked at her dark visor. "You know this world well, well enough to do what is right. You're no monster. You're a saviour."

Under her helmet, a single tear rolled down Alura's cheek.

"...You want me to stay."

Tommy nodded. "I think it would be good for you."

Ninjor watched the two teens, holding his breath. He could sense that the power within her was laughing, and laughing loudly, because either way, it would win. If she left, the dragon would have won, and driven her away from the planet which she might have called home. If she stayed, her powers and life force would continue to fluctuate, and the dragon would be able to take over.

"Alura," Ninjor spoke.

Alura respectfully angled her helmet towards her old friend. "Yes, Ninjor?"

"Whether you leave or not is purely your decision, Alura. We all make our own destiny."

"Not all of us do. Sometimes, it's already been written in the stars." All of them looked up, and the stars above them glittered. Alura searched the sky for her home world, but just found an empty darkness there instead. She turned back to Tommy. "Let me think about it." Inside, she could feel the dragon laughing.

Alura closed the hatch of the pyramid and looked at Tommy, who looked sad and concerned. She gestured for him to get down from the pyramid, and he respectfully made his way back down the side of the Zord to the desert sand. Alura made her way down behind him, but went into the temple grounds straight away, leaving the pyramid and Ninjor with Tommy.

Ninjor crossed his arms and turned towards Tommy. "That's no way to make a girl like you."

Tommy frowned. "What?"

"You were pretty angry, Tommy. You wouldn't have asked her to stay if you didn't have feelings for her."

Tommy looked down. "Maybe I just don't want to ruin anyone else's life."

"Maybe, maybe not." Ninjor cocked his head to the side, and then lowered it aggressively. "If she decides to stay, you'd better watch out."

"Why?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"Because if you break her heart, I'll break your legs."

Tommy would have smiled if Ninjor hadn't been so serious. Instead, he just nodded.

"Go back to the command centre Tommy. If she decides to stay, she'll let you know."

Tommy nodded, but hesitated whilst in mid reach for his teleporter. "Ninjor, if she does leave... tell her..."

Ninjor raised his head expectantly.

"... I'm sorry. And thank you. From me."

Ninjor shook his head. "Tell her yourself. She needs to hear it from you, not me."

"I guess there are just some things that you have to do yourself." Tommy sighed, running a strong hand down his hair and the back of his neck. "See ya Ninjor."

Tommy teleported away, leaving Ninjor standing with his arms crossed.

"I hope not, Thomas." Ninjor activated the cloaking device on the pyramid, and went into the temple grounds. He found Alura kneeling by the stream, unmorphed, and staring at her own reflection in the rippling water.

"It's won, Ninjor." She powered down, and the human form that sat on the earth was met by the reflection of a dragon in the cold water. "The power within will take over if I stay."

"You could get Billy to run a diagnostic to stop your powers from fluctuating."

"That is kind of him." Alura looked down. "But there's only so much he can do. Maybe he could postpone the takeover, but not for long."

"Isn't that better than nothing?"

"... I don't even know anymore." She stood angrily. "This shouldn't be happening to me, Ninjor! So much confusion and doubt in one person's life," She threw a stone into the water. "There's only so much a person can take."

Ninjor stood, head lowered, letting her fuel her rage for the moment without his interruption.

"Why does this happen to me?" She was talking more to herself than to Ninjor now. Her eyes glowed purple in rage. "If I am so powerful... why am I still weak?"

As she gazed at her own reflection in the water, the surface rippled, and in that moment she felt herself staring at the reflection of the Dragon in the water. And something snapped inside Alura. Suddenly she had discovered a new determination. She wouldn't become that beast. She would fight against her inner demons, for her own sake, and for the sake of those that she wanted to help. She saw the dragons lips curl upwards over its sharp teeth. Was it smiling, laughing at her? Suddenly she morphed and drew her power staff, letting it touch the surface of the water at the dragon's throat.

Ninjor just watched on. He could see the warrior struggling against her inner turmoil; however he could not help her. This was one battle that she needed to fight by herself, no matter how much he wanted to ease her pain. He saw a change in her though.

"This power stays with me." She threatened, the staff still held in her firm grip. "I would rather kill myself before you take over."

The dragon's reflection sneered and drew away from the sword, fading in the water and she heard its voice in her head. "It may come to that, Gold One."

Ninjor saw the dragon fade away completely, leaving the Gold Ranger with her sword lightly pressing against the surface of the water.

"It won't come to that, Alura. I promise."

Alura finally tore her gaze from the water. "You can't promise that, Ninjor." She holstered her sword. "Do... do think its weak for someone like me to ask for help?"

"Gold One, asking for help is the bravest thing you can do."

Alura felt a small pain on her neck as a cut appeared. She had been holding her staff to the dragon's neck in exactly the same place...

"I need to talk to Zordon." Alura turned to Ninjor. "There's something that I need to do before I can lead a civilian life, even for only a day."

"What is that, Gold One?"

She clenched a fist. "Take down one of them. Mondo would be the easiest at the moment."

"Alura, you can't just-"

Alura didn't hear the rest of Ninjor's sentence. A sudden laughter filled her head, and before she could stop herself, she fell forward into the water. It had not been a pleasant laugh. It had been one that she wished to lose; the laugh of a dragon. _"Did you really think that you could stop me, Gold One?"_She sank deeper. She couldn't stop herself.

"Alura!" Disregarding the weight of his armour that would surely pull him under the water deeper, Ninjor dove in after her, with no regard for his own safety.

...

"You what?"

"I asked her to spend a day among us." Tommy glanced at Jason. "She needs to know what she's fighting for."

"Did she agree?" Kat asked.

"I don't know." Tommy looked down. "She said that she would think about it."

"What if she doesn't like the life that we lead?" Tanya asked suddenly. "We all know that humans aren't perfect. What if she sees violence, or conflict? Will she still want to fight with us?"

"She of all people knows that humans aren't perfect." Tommy argued. "She knows that she isn't perfect herself. She'll understand any faults she sees."

Adam frowned. "You seem to have changed your mind about her very quickly Tommy."

"What can I say?" Jason slapped Adam on the back. "I give the best pep talks around!" Adam raised his eyebrow. Tommy smiled a little to himself. Jase was always great at keeping secrets, no matter whom or what they concerned.

"Tommy," Zordon looked down from his power tube. "You must understand the danger of this plan."

"Zordon, most of our plans are dangerous." Tommy crossed his arms. "Besides, the benefits outweigh the risks, I think."

Zordon looked sceptical.

"Isn't this part of being a Ranger?" Tommy asked. "We take risks, and we know the consequences, however good or bad they may be." Tommy turned to the others. "She deserves a normal life, at least for a little while."

"Hey," called Billy. "I'm picking up her signal."

Tommy rushed to the controls. "Which direction is she going? Is she coming this way?"

"I... I can't get a lock on it." Billy adjusted his glasses. "The power signature is all over the place."

Rocky looked over Billy's shoulder. "Are her powers fluctuating again?"

"I think so," Billy was concerned. "But this is a bigger fluctuation than we've seen before."

"Can you tell if she's okay?" Kat, as well as the others gathered around the console, with concern rising within them.

"I... I don't know. This power looks a little different to the power signature that we have detected from her before."

Tommy felt a small swell within him. He felt the green ranger powers, the dragon. Glancing over at Jason, he saw that he hadn't reacted. He mustn't have felt it. "Track it down Billy." Tommy stood back. "I'll teleport to her position."

"Hang on... its moving." Adam pointed to the diagram on the screen. "According to this, she's moving this way."

They all stared at the blip on the screen. They could see that there was someone with her, and Zordon confirmed that it was Ninjor once he took an energy reading.

"Rangers," said Zordon, "When the Gold Ranger-"

"Her name," Tommy interrupted, "is Alura. Stop calling her Gold Ranger, Zordon."

Zordon looked a little surprised.

"Geez Tommy," Adam frowned. "Take it easy!"

"Sorry," Tommy looked down. "But she's not just a Ranger! We need to think of her as a person!"

The Command Centre suddenly shuddered, sending all seven Rangers sprawling to the ground. They fell, but quickly regained their composure, as they had been trained to do.

"Zordon, what was that?" Rocky demanded. "Are we under attack?"

"No." Billy spoke gently. "I... think it's her."

The Rangers stared at each other in horror.

"What do you mean Billy?" asked Jason.

"Her power signature is right outside."

"But... she wouldn't attack us, would she?"

Billy tapped on the controls a little more. "I don't think so. Well, not by choice anyway."

Tommy glanced down at the scars on his arm. "But-"

Suddenly, the outer door to the command centre opened, blowing in the chilly night air. The Rangers immediately shivered and took defensive stances. The lights in the command centre flickered, but only for a second, as two figures entered. When the lights came back to normal, the Rangers saw the figures.

Ninjor stumbled forwards, carrying an unconscious Gold Ranger in his arms. His armour had scorch marks all over it, smouldering, yet dripping wet at the same time. The Gold Rangers armour was the same, smoking and drenched. Painfully, Ninjor angled his head towards the shocked Rangers.

"I... I think she'll need to stay..." Ninjor managed a painful whisper, before he fell forward.

The two warriors were unmoving on the floor. Helpless.


End file.
